i think this book is too deep and meaningful.. it enters too deep into the morals and values of man....

Following the ending of "Oedipus the King," Oedipus was exiled from Thebes, blind and a beggar. We learn from "Oedipus at Colonus" that his sons, Eteocles and Polyneices engaged in a civil war for the throne of Thebes (covered in "Seven Against Thebes" by Aeschylus). The two brothers kill each other and Creon, brother of Jocasta, becomes king. He orders that Eteocles, who nobly defended his city, shall receive an honorable burial, but that Polyneices, for leading the Argive invaders, shall be left unburied. This leads Antigone, sister to both of the slain brothers, to have to choose between obeying the rule of the state, the dictates of familial binds, and the will of the gods. This, of course, is the matter at the heart of this classic tragedy by Sophocles.

But I have always been pleased to discover that many students, when reading "Antigone," quickly come to the conclusion that it is Creon who is the main character in the tragedy (the same way Clytemnestra is the main character in Aeschylus's "Agamemnon"). In this volume, Gita Wolf and Sirish Rao retell the story so that the title character is indeed the main character (I suspect they are borrowing more than a few ideas from Anoulih's retelling of the play in 1944 while France was occupied by the Nazis).

It is too easy to see the issues of this play, first performed in the 5th century B.C., as being reflected in a host of more contemporary concerns, where the conscience of the individual conflicts with the dictates of the state. However, it has always seemed to me that the conflict in "Antigone" is not so clear-cut as we would suppose. After all, Creon has the right to punish a traitor and to expect loyal citizens to obey. Ismene, Antigone's sister, chooses to obey, but Antigone takes a different path. The fact that the "burial" of her brother consists of the token gesture of throwing dirt upon his face, only serves to underscore the ambiguity of the situation Sophocles was developing.

The chief virtue of this retelling, in addition to the excellent illustrations by Indrapramit Roy, is that young readers will better be able to put themselves in the place of Antigone as the tragedy plays out. Consequently, this is a much more personal version of the tale than the original play by Sophocles.

Superbly illustrated by eight of Indrapramit Roy's two-color silk-screened illustrations, Sophocles' Antigone is a splendidly presented retelling of the tragic story told by the blind prophet Teiresias of a Greek princess who discovers that her brother (a rebel against the rule of their uncle Creon) has been murdered and his body left unburied. Torn between her fealty to her uncle and her familial love for her brother, as well as deference to the gods, Antigone is a story of the tragic conflicts between love and duty, honor and the law. A physically beautiful publication, Sophocles' Antigone is a welcome and much appreciated work that will totally engage the attention and appreciation of contemporary readers.