Clouds (Hackett Classics) - Softcover

Since the appearance of Sommerstein's very successful literal translation less than twenty years ago, there have been at least five further new published attempts at rendering the play into English. It is certainly a bold enterprise to introduce yet one more translation onto the scene, but Peter Meineck has risen well to the challenge. The translation is straightforward and idiomatic, as well as well-paced and funny. . . Ian Storey's Introduction is perfect for undergraduates. --Max Nelson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review An excellent translation, ideal for undergraduates. Readable and entertaining to a modern audience, Meineck doesn't make the fatal mistake of translating the humor with modern cultural equivalents--a mistake that has dated within years other translations of Aristophanes. Excellent notes and an outstanding introduction to Greek Comedy, Aristophanes, and Clouds by Ian Storey coupled with the superb translation will make this the edition to use in teaching for many years to come. --James A. Francis, University of Kentucky Ian Storey's helpful 41-page introduction clearly introduces Greekless students to Old Comedy, to Aristophanes, to what is known of how it was produced, to the literary structure of Old Comedy, to problems of interpreting Aristophanes, and to the Clouds itself. The translation aims to serve 'both as a tool for the effective execution of onstage comedy and as an accurate reflection of the Greek.' With its excellent, well-chosen notes, helpful bibliography, and its affordable paperback format, the Meineck translation is clear, readable, appropriately accurate. It earns high marks also for cost-effectiveness. --E. M. Macierowski, Benedictine College

The career of Aristophanes as a writer of comedies lasted forty years, from 427 to c. 386. At least forty plays were attributed to him in antiquity, eleven of which survived into the Middle Ages and thus to our own day: the earliest of these eleven is Acharnians(425) and the last Wealth(388). Clouds was produced in 423, and was placed by the judges third of the three plays competing at the City Dionysia that year.