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Terence: The Comedies, Translated with an Introduction by Betty Radice.

DESCRIPTION: Softcover: 398 pages. Publisher: Penguin Books; (1976). The works of Terence have been part of the world\'s heritage of dramatic literature for more than two thousand years. They are still being staged and enjoyed. In English translations that achieve a lively readability without sacrificing the dramatic and comic impact of the original Latin, this volume presents all six comedies: The Girl from Andros (Andria), The Self-Tormentor (Heautontimorumenos), The Eunuch (Eunouchus), Phormio, The Brothers (Adelphoe), and Her Husband\'s Mother(Hecyra). Publius Terentius Afer, known to posterity as “Terence”, was a slave from North Africa, brought as a boy from Carthage and sold to a wealthy Roman named Marcus Terentius Lucanus.

Recognizing the boy\'s natural charm and genius, Marcus Terentius had Terence educated along with his own children and eventually set the gifted young man free. Terence took to his education in Latin and Greek literature and was soon writing plays of his own; Roman comedies in Latin poetry, based on Greek models. The plays were performed for Romans from every walk of life, who crowded the improvised theaters on festival days. Before his death by shipwreck at age thirty-six, on a voyage to Greece in search of manuscripts by Menander, he had become one of Rome\'s most popular comedic playwrights. To Terence, \"nothing human is foreign”.

Terence’s comedies revel in the complex relationships and amusing cross-purposes of typical \"worthies\" and their interfering friends. Lovers survive nerve-wracking comic trials. Young men, helped by their stoic slaves, reconcile with angry fathers and uncles. Tutors, lawyers, and middlemen, the \"unworthies\", are content to play both ends against the middle. Terence\'s engaging portrayals of the \"generation gap\" and other timeless subjects conquered an unruly Roman populace; and, in these translations, will captivate modern readers.

CONDITION: Light shelf wear, otherwise New, never read.

PLEASE SEE IMAGES BELOW FOR SAMPLE PAGES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK.

PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW.

PUBLISHER REVIEW:

REVIEW: Roman dramatist Terence (186-159 B.C.) adapted many of his comedies from Greek sources, rendering them suitable for audiences of his own time by introducing subtler characterization and more complex plots. In his romantic play, “The Girl from Andros”, Terence portrays a love affair saved by a startling discovery. “The Self-Tormentor” focuses on a man\'s remorse after sending his son to war. “The Eunuch” depicts a case of mistaken identity. “Phormio” is as rich in intrigue as a French farce. “The Mother-in-Law” shows two families striving to save a marriage. “The Brothers” contrasts strict and lenient upbringings. With their tight plots and spare dialogue, Terence gave his plays a sense of humanity that became a model in the Renaissance and greatly influenced Moliere.

Terence was born at Carthage of Libyan parentage, and was brought to Rome as a young slave. According to Roman tradition his talents and good looks won him an education, manumission, and entry into a Patrician literary circle, which whose encouragement he wrote six Latin plays, modeled on Greek New Comedy, all of which survive. Only one, “The Eunuch”, was a popular success in his lifetime. However he was read and admired in Roman times and throughout the Middle Ages, and became the main influence on Renaissance comedy.

PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS:

REVIEW: Terence’s subtle plots and sensitive characterization have had a lasting influence on modern theatre. In “translating” Greek New Comedy into a different world, the Roman dramatist Terence have to his plays a humanism and sense of style that became a model for dramatists from the Renaissance onwards. One of his technical innovations was the “double plot”, which enabled him to draw out characters with sympathy and without exaggeration to show them in all their complexity. This volume contains all six of Terence’s comedies, his complete output, ranging from the first truly romantic comedy, “The Girl from Andros”, to the sophisticated social observation of “The Brothers”, which inspired Moliere.

REVIEW: Includes The Girl from Andros, The Self-Tormentor, The Eunuch, Phormio, The Mother-in-Law and The Brothers. In the gifted hands of these translators, Roman comedy turns to English comedy of the finest.

REVIEW: In English translations that achieve a lively readability without sacrificing the dramatic and comic impact of the original Latin, this volume presents all six comedies: The Girl from Andros (Andria), The Self-Tormentor (Heautontimorumenos), The Eunuch (Eunouchus), Phormios, The Brothers (Adelphoe), and Her Husband\'s Mother (Hecyra). Terence\'s comedies sparkle and delight.

REVIEW: The six sophisticated comedies by the Roman dramatist portray still-engaging domestic problems and romantic escapades of an upper-middle-class society. They offer unique insight into the everyday lives of people in ancient Rome, and show an often astonishing similarity in sentiment to the attitudes of modern comedy.

READER REVIEWS:

REVIEW: Terence\'s character development is superb. He takes stock characters of past Greek plays and turns them around so that the reader sees that people are not black or white. They are rather gray with good and bad qualities. His stories develop around his characters and in each comedy there is a message that is as timeless as the dialogue and interaction between characters in his plays. I didn\'t really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised with the mastery with which Terence took Greek plays and adapted them for his Roman audience. The editing was good, and I think that there is a little something for all readers in the comedies of Terence. They are timeless classics that draw a quiet smile from the reader rather than an outright laugh.

REVIEW: This book is one of my favorite books ever. The storylines are interesting, though perhaps not hilarious from a modern standpoint. They do however make excellent fodder for research papers and for a deeper understanding of the ancient world!

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