Hanna Roisman

Euripides' Alcestis with Notes and Commentary by C.A.E. Luschnig and H.M. Roisman. Vol. 29 in the Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture, Oklahoma University Press. Euripides' Alcestis - perhaps the most anthologized Attic drama - is an ideal text for students reading their first play in the original Greek. Literary commentaries and language aids in most editions are too advanced or too elementary for intermediate students of the language, but in this new student edition, Luschnig and Roisman remedy such deficiencies. In their presentation, Luschnig and Roisman have initiated a new method for introducing students to current scholarship. In addition to notes about the text, the authors offer a Discussion section at the back of the book, which engages the major interpretative concerns and controversies about the play. “… Luschnig and Roisman provide a wide range of support materials for the text, all of which are motivated by their sensible conclusion that students reading this text may be beginners at Greek literature, but are also likely advanced undergraduates who may never read another Greek drama. Their goal is not just that the students understand the Greek, but that they think about the drama….”

Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Bryn Mawr Classical Review