{"product_id":"9780374527266","title":"Alcestis: A Play","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the years before his death at age sixty-eight in 1998, Hughes translated several classical works with great energy and ingenuity. His\u003ci\u003e Tales from Ovid \u003c\/i\u003ewas called \"one of the great works of our century\" (Michael Hofmann, \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e, London), his \u003ci\u003eOresteia of Aeschylus\u003c\/i\u003e is considered the difinitive version, and his \u003ci\u003ePhèdre\u003c\/i\u003ewas acclaimed on stage in New York as well as London. Hughes's version of Euripides's \u003ci\u003eAlcestis\u003c\/i\u003e, the last of his translations, has the great brio of those works, and it is a powerful and moving conclusion to the great final phase of Hughes's career. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEuripides was, with Aeschylus and Sophocles, one of the greatest of Greek dramatists. Alcestis tells the story of a king's grief for his wife, Alcestis, who has given her young life so that he may live. As translated by Hughes, the story has a distinctly modern sensibility while retaining the spirit of antiquity. It is a profound meditation on human mortality. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTed Hughes's last book of poems, \u003ci\u003eBirthday Letters\u003c\/i\u003e, won the Whitbread Book of the Year Prize. He was Poet Laureate to Queen Elizabeth II and lived in Devon, England until he died in 1998.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Farrar, Strauss \u0026 Giroux-3pl","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47008355156208,"sku":"9780374527266","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780374527266_p0.jpg?v=1763691332","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780374527266","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}