In two of his most celebrated plays, Britannicus and Bérénice, Racine depicts the tragedies of characters trapped by the ideals, desires, and cruelties of ancient Rome. This international collection of essays deploys cutting-edge research to illuminate the plays and their contexts.

Translated into English rhyming verse, with introductions, by Lacy Lockert, the four plays included in this volume are Berenice, Bajazet, Mithridate, and Iphigenie. They are significant for their inherent excellence, and for what they reveal about the development of a great dramatist. Originally published in 1958. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Racine's masterpieces--Andromaque, Britannicus, Phedre, and Athalie--are translated into English verse. The introduction and notes by Mr. Lockert guide the reader to a greater understanding of the plays. Originally published in 1966. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A skillful translation of the classical French tragedy about the captivity of Hector's wife after her abduction by the son of Achilles. The rhymed couplets retain the simplicity of form and powerful language of the original. "ÝThis translation ̈ is a striking tour de force" (Hudson Review). Drawings by Igor Tulipanov.

Describes the planning, building, and use of canals in nineteenth-century America and their impact on the history, economy, and westward expansion of the United States.

Based on Euripides' Hippolytus, this play by one of France's greatest playwrights is a magnificent example of character exposition. When the title character, Hippolytus' stepmother, receives false information that her husband, Theseus, is dead, Phedra reveals a passionate love for her stepson — an act that eventually spells doom for both characters.

This is the first volume of a planned translation into English of all twelve of Jean Racine&’s plays&—a project undertaken only three times in the three hundred years since Racine&’s death. For this new translation, Geoffrey Alan Argent has taken a fresh approach: he has rendered these plays in rhymed &"heroic&" couplets. While Argent&’s translation is faithful to Racine&’s text and tone, his overriding intent has been to translate a work of French literature into a work of English literature, substituting for Racine&’s rhymed alexandrines (hexameters) the English mode of rhymed iambic pentameters, a verse form particularly well suited to the highly charged urgency of Racine&’s drama and the coiled strength of his verse. Complementing the translations are the illuminating Discussions and the extensive Notes and Commentaries Argent has furnished for each play. The Discussions are not offered as definitive interpretations of these plays, but are intended to stimulate readers to form their own views and to explore further the inexhaustibly rich world of Racine&’s plays. Included in the Notes and Commentary section of this translation are passages that Racine deleted after the first edition and have never before appeared in English. The full title of Racine&’s first tragedy is La Th&éba&ïde ou les Fr&ères ennemis (The Saga of Thebes, or The Enemy Brothers). But Racine was far less concerned with recounting the struggle for Thebes than in examining those indomitable passions&—in this case, hatred&—that were to prove his lifelong focus of interest. For Oedipus&’s sons, Eteocles and Polynices (the titular brothers), vying for the throne is rather a symptom than a cause of their unquenchable hatred&—so unquenchable that by the end of the play it has not only destroyed these twin brothers, but has also claimed the lives of their mother, their sister, their uncle, and their two cousins as collateral damage. Indeed, as Racine acknowledges in his preface, &“There is hardly a character in it who does not die at the end.&”