When Then is Now
Three Greek Tragedies: The Trojan Women, Medea, Antigone
Published on 26. October 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-1-85224-743-0 (ISBN)
Description
"When Then is Now" brings together Brendan Kennelly's modern versions of three Greek tragedies: Antigone by Sophocles and Euripides' Medea and The Trojan Women. All three plays dramatise timeless human dilemmas as relevant now as they were in ancient times. All focus on women whose lives are torn apart by war, family conflict and despotic regimes. In his preface, Brendan Kennelly describes how writing these three plays helped him enormously at difficult times in his own life. "When Then is Now" gives living testament of his belief that 'listening to ancient voices can help us confront, understand and express many problems of today'.
Reviews / Votes
THE TROJAN WOMEN: 'One of the most subversive manifestations of dramatic art that has been seen in recent times...subverts the original, which itself was subversive of societal norms in 415 BC, when it was first staged...ancient drama recrafted in contemporary terms about war and men and women, well worthy of the stage of any national theatre.' - Irish TimesMEDEA: 'Accessible, immediate, urgent...his language makes you feel the force of Medea's passions as closely and vividly as Euripides' audiences;' - Guardian
'Marvellously achieved... delicately honed, full-bloodedly direct and timeless in its relevance.' - Irish Independent
ANTIGONE: 'Brendan Kennelly's new version of Sophocles' Antigone is probably the most substantial Irish drama since W.B. Yeats was writing.' - Irish Times.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Tyne and Wear
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
302 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85224-743-0 (9781852247430)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Brendan Kennelly is one of Ireland's most distinguished and best loved poets, as well as a renowned teacher and cultural commentator. Born in 1936 in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, he was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin for over 30 years, and retired from teaching in 2005. He now lives in Listowel, Co. Kerry. He has published more than 30 books of poetry, including Familiar Strangers: New & Selected Poems 1960-2004 (2004), which includes the whole of his book-length poem The Man Made of Rain (1998). He is best-known for two controversial poetry books, Cromwell, published in Ireland in 1983 and in Britain by Bloodaxe in 1987, and his epic poem The Book of Judas (1991), which topped the Irish bestsellers list: a shorter version was published by Bloodaxe in 2002 as The Little Book of Judas. His third epic, Poetry My Arse (1995), did much to outdo these in notoriety. All these remain available separately from Bloodaxe, along with his more recent titles: Glimpses (2001), Martial Art (2003), Now (2006), Reservoir Voices (2009), The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems, edited by Terence Brown and Michael Longley, with audio CD (2011), and Guff (2013). His Journey into Joy: Selected Prose, edited by Ake Persson, was published by Bloodaxe in 1994, along with Dark Fathers into Light, a critical anthology on his work edited by Richard Pine. John McDonagh's critical study Brendan Kennelly: A Host of Ghosts was published in The Liffey Press's Contemporary Irish Writers series in 2004.