Helen

Transcending the literal bounds of genre, Euripides' Helen has been characterized as both a comedy and a tragedy. In this evocative translation by James Michie and Colin Leach, Euripides' delicate balance--in all its subtlety of texture and tone--is beautifully captured. Finding its source in a myth ascribed to the Sicilian poet Stesichorus, this drama centers on the myth of two Helens--a god-wrought phantom that was carried of by Paris to Troy, and the real, flesh-and-blood Helen who was mysteriously sent to Egypt. The reader encounters myriad reversals, worlds--real/ideal, tragic/comic--surprisingly juxtaposed and, as in any story of Helen, the pathos of the impossible, all allowing Euripides to comment of the futility of war and the difficult distinction between appearance and reality.