Classic Remarks is a meme that is hosted by Pages Unbound which poses questions each Friday about classic literature and asks participants to engage in ongoing discussions surrounding not only themes in the novels but also questions about canon formation, the “timelessness” of literature, and modes of interpretation.
April 9:, 2021 Who is your favorite Austen heroine? Or hero?
I don’t have an answer for todays question because… I don’t like Austen. *Ducks the rubbish thrown at her. ﾐo🍅* I know it’s not a popular option among those who enjoy Classics. I read several in High School because I HAD to. I hated every minute of it.
Why? First of all the time period is one that I don’t really fancy. The Georgian just doesn’t have a draw for me. Secondly, nothing happens. So many pages to read that just seem like filler. Lastly, because I’m not a fan of the time period the satire doesn’t work for me. I can kind of get it but I would much prefer to read a gothic novel or a Greek play.
From March 31, 2017 What’s a somewhat obscure classic you wish more people would read?
Speaking of Greek plays, I decided to write my Classic Remarks on a question from the vault. My choice for the prompt is Antigone. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Antigone isn’t an obscure classic.”
This translation IS. M. Jean Anouilh’s treatment of the play which was written to be preformed in a Nazi occupied France. As noted in one of my copies of the play, “had to receive the sanction of a German censor before it could be preformed in the presence of the German State Police. He made his Antigone a martyr who refused to say yes (literally and figuratively)… Antigone was able to symbolize for all Frenchmen, French herself France rejecting the German “New Order”. Talk about balls. Seriously to rewrite a classic Greek tragedy into a criticism of the Nazi occupation and then preform it for the German State Police. Wow.
I picked up the English translation of this treatment of Antigone at a used bookstore. It’s a fantastic take on the story and knowing the background just puts it into a new light. Antigone goes from woeful complainer and victim to an active part of civil disobedience (albeit in a very Greek -Woman-in-a-Tragedy way.)
When approaching Greek literature the translation you read has so much power over the story. If you enjoy a play I encourage you to look for other translations, for weird translations, for translations that have a story of their own. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you dig up.