Review: The Oedipus Cycle as translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald

And now for something completely different. (In that I haven't done this yet until now.)

And a small notice. Thanks for following me on this blog. As of right now, with my work for Uber going as it is, I've been very busy with working due to some debts to powers that be. So I'm trying to write all my articles on the day or days, I have time off of. Hopefully, I can get that soon as I have 6 drafts for articles in the works including Syria, The Recent Reveal of the Concentration Camps, and a review of Persona 5. Thank you for understanding.

Today I'm going to review a book. But this is actually a series of plays. The Oedipus Cycle by Sophocles. But like most foreign and ancient works, they're usually translated and all translations are varied in style, prose, objectivity in diction, and execution in translation. The adaptation I'm discussing is by authors Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. With many famous works like Les Miserables, Journey to the West, Don Quixote, and Cyrano De Bergerac, and pop culture phenomenons like Harry Potter, all of them need to be translated among all the regions of the world and there are fears of getting things lost in translation or deciding how to directly translate a well known work of art. Mr. Fitts and Mr. Fritzgerald both decide to go for the direct translation of the source and let the play do all the artistry.

Before I continue, I'd like to at least give off some perspective as to why I chose this variant to read. This version of the Oedipus cycle was suggested from a lecture given by Objectivist Scholar Dr. Leonard Peikoff about 8 great plays and I plan to review all of them hopefully if I can get the plays soon. Fortunately I own 3 of these plays. Antigone, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Othello. But they will be reviewed for another time.

The Oedipus Cycle focuses on the time after Oedipus solves the riddle of the Sphinx to his exile and death, and his daughter Antigone's mission to bury her brother with the respect he deserves. Each of these plays deals with primarily of themes between family, fate vs. free will, questioning of authoritarian societies, taking responsibility for one's actions, and redemption. I'll be focusing on a basic plotline with my opinions on the translations way they have told the story.

In Oedipus Rex, King Oedipus is trying to find the killer of the King of Thebes unbeknownst to him, he has successfully fulfilled a prophecy inclining him to kill his father and marry his mother. (Ok. So I spoiled the story but lets face it. We all know the myth unless you were asleep in English or History.) In Oedipus at Colossus Oedipus and Antigone are at Colossus seeking asylum from the King of Athens as they have fleed Thebes but Thebes' conflicts still antagonize the father/brother and daughter/sister duo. Finally, Antigone is the conclusion of this story where our titular heroine tries to bury her disavowed brother much against the tyrannical King Creon.

Personally, I can see why Oedipus Rex and Antigone are vital in their essence of Western Literature as they feature many important themes including loyalty to family and confidants over the state, anti-authoritarianism, fate vs. free will, Apolloian vs Dionysian choices, and the importance of Classical Tragedy in our lives. All of these themes revolve between these two plays. Oedipus at Colossus is more the black sheep of the trilogy because it serves to function more so as a connecting arc between the other two plays but this does have in a functioning importance. The power of redemption. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus' hubris is what causes him to destroy himself even when his many good characteristics are solid. In order to redeem himself to Thebes and the gods, he blinds himself and exiles himself out of Thebes for all to see. In Colossus, Oedipus accepts the fate he is given him especially since he is fated to die at Colossus by harpies. With the King of Athens giving him asylum, we see Oedipus regain his virtues as he has learned from his mistakes with his marriage to Jocasta (his mother) and allow pride to swell and take over him completely.

Now for the translation, Fitts and Fritzgerald use a more literal translation with still keeping figurative language when it provides important to the emphasis of the story. This doesn't mean the dialogue isn't engaging. In fact, it helps clarify to the audience more about Oedipus' life and times as well as give us a helpful understanding of his situation. Although usually, plays are meant to be performed rather than read, (i.e. Shakespeare) none the less, we can learn a lot from the stories they tell since dialogue is our primary source of information for the world they live in. The dialogue of this play does exactly that and more so with giving some pretty fascinating dialogue primarily for the long soliloquies and monologues seen in the play. Oedipus is given some very hard and confessional pieces in the two plays that feature him.

Overall, I'd say get it. This is a true piece of the written world that must be read before your death. A true Greek and Western Civilization Classic for anyone interested in those genres.
4.5/5