Document Type
Honors Project
Abstract
Adapting ancient works of art for a modern audience provides a challenge that authors often approach with a methodology of familiarization and normalization. Meanwhile, the public consciousness idealizes ancient Athens as a golden age of rationality and classic perfection. This translation of Aristophanes’ Acharnians seeks to challenge both of these notions by combining distinctly foreignizing language and Modernist theater practices that challenge the audience to interact with the action of the drama more directly. Aristophanes’ comedy is especially suited to this venture in the ways it criticizes Athenian society and deploys metatheatrical devices also prominent in many twentieth-century plays and operas. By combining the ancient and the modern as such, my translation leads audiences to reevaluate their perception of the Classics and their importance to contemporary life.
Recommended Citation
Sawyer, Jake, "οἴμοι τάλας: A Modern[ist] Translation of Aristophanes’ Acharnians" (2018). Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects. 25.
https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/classics_honors/25
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