Bacchae

A bold new translation of Euripides’ shockingly modern classic work from Forward Prize-winning poet Robin Robertson with a new introduction by bestselling and award-winning writer critic and translator Daniel Mendelsohn.Thebes has been rocked by the arrival of Dionysus the god of wine and ecstasy. Drawn by the god’s power the women of the city have rushed to worship him on the mountain drinking and dancing with frenzied abandon.Pentheus the king of Thebes is furious denouncing this so-called “god” as a charlatan and an insurgent. But no mortal can deny a god much less one as powerful and seductive as Dionysus who will exact a terrible revenge on Pentheus drawing the king to his own tragic destruction.This stunning translation by award-winning poet Robin Robertson reinvigorates Euripides’ masterpiece. Updating it for contemporary readers he brings the ancient verse to fervid brutal life revealing a work of art as devastating and relevant today as it was in the fifth century BC.