The Oresteia - Aeschylus BOOK REVIEW

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Better Than Food

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 44

@SmallSpaceCorgi 5 ай бұрын

The line from the plays that haunts me is spoken by Aegisthus: "Exiles feed on bitter dreams of hope".

@jayarrington240 5 ай бұрын

Really terrific segment, there, Clifford. Much appreciated. I've been wandering backwards through some epic books - ( Wallace's Infinite Jest, to Vonneguts Sirens of Titan, to Joyce's Ulysees, to Sterne's Tristram book, to Swift's Gulliver Thingy, back through Cervantes book, to Rabelais and - well - I had Aeschylus and Homer lined up - for now - not knowing, yet, who's the intermediaries are between them and Rabelais. This review is both encouraging and clarifying. Really. I appreciate your effort and time. Loving it.

@1siddynickhead 5 ай бұрын

Pls do Sophocles and Euripides tooo!! You'll love Euripides!! He's so subversive. If you found Clytemnestra interesting, wait for Medea 😮

@juancervantes932 5 ай бұрын

I’ll second this request cliff

@happymaskedguy1943 5 ай бұрын

I always wonder why they put story spoilers into book introductions. An introduction should set the stage for what’s to come, and to put the story/play into its historical context. But no story spoilers. Then at the back of the book, go into a deep dive of the story/ play itself in a larger epilogue - which also includes relevant annotations for readers to flick back and reflect upon. Often when I finish a book I have little desire or inclination to turn back to the introduction and psychologically ‘start again’, if that makes sense? Rant done.

@bookofdust 5 ай бұрын

Medea asks that Clytemnestra hold her beer in terms of being a dark, confident, powerful force, female antihero.

@1siddynickhead 5 ай бұрын

Absolutely 💯

@DarioRaffaelli 5 ай бұрын

Great review as always! I highly recommend the play The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh as well as the works of Eugéne Ionesco. Although they are very different, I think that you would enjoy both of them.

@kaptnstrumpfus6759 5 ай бұрын

I've been reading a bunch of ancient Greek tragedy as well and have a recommendation: If there are English translations available you should get your hands on some of the old GDR (East German) literary adaptations of these mythological and tragical works. They have different approaches of re-working the characters into plausible people feeling, thinking and acting within their political systems. There are no gods in them but gods and myth are utilized as parts of these systems (that's the Marxist tradition, obviously). Great examples are: "Cassandra" by Christa Wolf; "Philoctetes" by Heiner Müller (adapted from Sophokles); or if you are interested in biblical contexts "The King David Report" by Stefan Heym.

@Mompellion 4 ай бұрын

One of the most interesting characters for me is Cassandra. She is fated by Apollo to always utter true prophesies that are never believed or heeded. If I recall, she tries to tell the Greeks about the Trojan Horse but they don’t believe her!

@meesalikeu 2 ай бұрын

yes and i wonder what camille paglia has to say about her here?

@cecethompson914 5 ай бұрын

“Or BCE for you heathens out there!” LOL

@CRM-114 5 ай бұрын

One of Nietzsche‘s favorite writers.

@jasonmorgan5004 5 ай бұрын

Hahah. That music before the draw is my reason to live.

@EthanBird 5 ай бұрын

Crazy chill intro. Loved it.

@cv3183 5 ай бұрын

The Robert Fagles translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey are excellent.

@Ozgipsy 5 ай бұрын

Brilliant, I love these plays.

@alihijazi4451 5 ай бұрын

I highly recommend the song Orestes by A Perfect Circle. Hauntingly beautiful.

@vampdeluxe 5 ай бұрын

Hey, I’m trying to find a book that was reviewed/included in one of the lists. It was a book that he loved from a Portuguese author, which was published after his death. It had a collection of stories about his life as an author. Can anyone help?

@rodraska 4 ай бұрын

You are probably referring to the "Book of Disquiet" by Fernando Pessoa

@squishyam 5 ай бұрын

finally reviewing a REAL book, good to hear you're doing the iliad soon. take it easy cliff

@BlueDusk95 5 ай бұрын

Aeschylus was a major influence on the art of Francis Bacon.

@sunshineandroxycolligan3642 5 ай бұрын

Please explain.

@BlueDusk95 5 ай бұрын

@@sunshineandroxycolligan3642 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptych_Inspired_by_the_Oresteia_of_Aeschylus?wprov=sfla1

@clivebroadhead4857 4 ай бұрын

@@sunshineandroxycolligan3642 Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus 1981 would be a good departure point.

@TracyRatelle 5 ай бұрын

a Metal Band called Virgin Steele, did a concept album on this; you should check it out. :)

@ZA70-mm 5 ай бұрын

One of my favorite books of all-time. Glad you thoroughly enjoyed it. You mentioned how seeing the play must've been life-changing back in the day. The closest we'll likely ever get is Peter Hall's hypnotic stage adaptation which I'll link below here. Very compelling art direction, time accurate to the best of its ability -- it's the full realization of what you read and think you'd get a major kick out of it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5XZZKmheqikjqM

@rodraska 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the recommendation

@MyFakeIronTrees 5 ай бұрын

I really enjoyed the translation by Ted Hughes.

@TracyRatelle 5 ай бұрын

oh it is called House of Atreus part 1 and 2, you get the whole box set. :)

@rodraska 4 ай бұрын

It was the first Greek tragedy I ever heard. One of the highest points in Western Literature. What a life it must have been when the Gods were alive and had great influence over your fate

@TheLinguistsLibrary 5 ай бұрын

12:39 😂

@ianbored8859 5 ай бұрын

yeap, this a really good one

@sa8019 5 ай бұрын

Based Cliff

@barrymoore4470 5 ай бұрын

It's curious to consider that one of the implications of Aeschylus' magnum opus is that all human beings may be inherently evil, as this strongly anticipates the central Christian doctrine that all human beings are innately sinful. In either case, the only recourse humanity has for moral guidance or salvation is trust in the gods or God.