Recommendations based on Oedipus Rexby Sophocles

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  1. Antigone

    by Sophocles
    A tragedy about a woman's struggle to uphold justice amidst oppressive laws.

    The curse placed on Oedipus lingers and haunts a younger generation in this new and brilliant translation of Sophocles' classic drama. The daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Antigone is an ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Iliad

    by Homer
    Epic tale of the Trojan War, depicting heroism and tragedy.

    Dating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, ... (Goodreads)

  3. Medea

    by Euripides
    Tragedy of a woman's vengeful wrath against her husband and his family.

    One of the most powerful and enduring of Greek tragedies, Medea centers on the myth of Jason, leader of the Argonauts, who has won the dragon-guarded treasure of the Golden Fleece with the help of ... (Goodreads)

  4. Waiting for Godot

    by Samuel Beckett
    Two men wait for a mysterious figure who never arrives, reflecting on their lives and existence.

    Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, have met near a leafless tree. Estragon spent the previous night lying in a ditch and receiving a beating from some unnamed assailants. The two men discuss a variety ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Oedipus at Colonus

    by Sophocles
    An aging Oedipus, on his final journey, finds solace and redemption.

    Led by Antigone, Oedipus enters the village of Colonus and sits down on a stone. They are approached by a villager, who demands that they leave, because that ground is sacred to the Furies , or ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

    by Sophocles
    Ancient tragedy of a family's fall from grace due to a fateful prophecy.

    English versions of Sophocles’ three great tragedies based on the myth of Oedipus, translated for a modern audience by two gifted poets. Index. ... (Barnes & Noble)

  7. Candide

    by Voltaire
    A young man's satirical journey through life, encountering misfortune and eventual optimism.

    Candide is the story of a gentle man who, though pummeled and slapped in every direction by fate, clings desperately to the belief that he lives in "the best of all possible worlds." On the surface a ... (Goodreads)

  8. King Lear

    by William Shakespeare
    An aging king's descent into madness reveals the consequences of pride and vanity.

    Shakespeare’s King Lear challenges us with the magnitude, intensity, and sheer duration of the pain that it represents. Its figures harden their hearts, engage in violence, or try to alleviate the ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Trial

    by Franz Kafka
    A man is arrested and put on trial for a crime that remains unclear throughout the novel.

    On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, Josef K., the chief cashier of a bank, is unexpectedly arrested by two unidentified agents from an unspecified agency for an unspecified crime. Josef is not ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Metamorphoses

    by Ovid
    A collection of tales of transformation, featuring gods and mortals.

    Prized through the ages for its splendor and its savage, sophisticated wit, The Metamorphoses is a masterpiece of Western culture–the first attempt to link all the Greek myths, before and after ... (Goodreads)

  11. Beowulf

    by Unknown
    Epic poem recounting the heroic deeds of a legendary Scandinavian warrior.

    Beowulf is a major epic of Anglo-Saxon literature, probably composed between the first half of the seventh century and the end of the first millennium. The poem was inspired by Germanic and ... (Goodreads)

  12. Othello

    by William Shakespeare
    A tale of jealousy, manipulation, and tragedy, as one man's descent into madness leads to disastrous consequences.

    In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual ... (Goodreads)

  13. Prometheus Bound

    by Aeschylus
    Prometheus, a Titan, is punished by Zeus for giving fire to humans. He is chained to a rock and tormented by various gods.

    For readers accustomed to the relatively undramatic standard translations of Prometheus Bound , this version by James Scully, a poet and winner of the Lamont Poetry Prize, and C. John Herington, one ... (Goodreads)

  14. Death of a Salesman

    by Arthur Miller
    Tragic story of a man's attempt to find success and happiness in a world of false promises.

    'For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a ... (Goodreads)

  15. Hamlet: Screenplay, Introduction And Film Diary

    by Kenneth Branagh
    A reimagined version of Shakespeare's classic play, told through film.

    Often credited with creating a popular movie audience for Shakespeare, Kenneth Branagh has wanted for many years to bring to the screen the complete, full-length version of Hamlet , Shakespeare's ... (Goodreads)

  16. Heart of Darkness

    by Joseph Conrad
    A journey into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the darkness of colonialism.

    Aboard the Nellie , anchored in the River Thames near Gravesend , Charles Marlow tells his fellow sailors how he became captain of a river steamboat for an ivory trading company. As a child, Marlow ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Julius Caesar

    by William Shakespeare
    Tragedy of political power and ambition as Rome's leader is betrayed by those closest to him.

    The Oxford School Shakespeare has become the preferred introduction to the literary legacy of the greatest playwright in the English language. This exclusive collection of the Bard's best works has ... (Goodreads)

  18. Don Quixote

    by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
    An aging knight's adventures and misadventures, filled with chivalry, honor, and satire.

    Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in ... (Goodreads)

  19. Inferno

    by Dante Alighieri
    An epic journey through the nine circles of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.

    Of the great poets, Dante is one of the most elusive and therefore one of the most difficult to adequately render into English verse. In the Inferno, Dante not only judges sin but strives to ... (Goodreads)

  20. The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides

    by Aeschylus
    Tragedy of a cursed family and their struggle to find the truth and justice.

    Alternate cover edition can be found, here,, here,, here,, here, In the Oresteia—the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity—Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Epic of Gilgamesh

    by Anonymous
    Ancient Sumerian epic poem recounting the adventures of a hero who struggles with mortality.

    Miraculously preserved on clay tablets dating back as much as four thousand years, the poem of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, is the world’s oldest epic, predating Homer by many centuries. The story tells ... (Goodreads)

  22. The Brothers Karamazov

    by Fyodor Dostoevsky
    A philosophical exploration of morality, faith, and family dynamics among a group of brothers.

    The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich ... (Goodreads)

  23. A Doll's House

    by Henrik Ibsen
    A woman's struggle to break from societal expectations and find her own identity.

    A Doll's House (1879), is a masterpiece of theatrical craft which, for the first time portrayed the tragic hypocrisy of Victorian middle class marriage on the stage. The play ushered in a new social ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Death of Ivan Ilych

    by Leo Tolstoy
    A man's journey of self-reflection in the face of death, confronting mortality and the meaning of life.

    Ivan Ilyich lives a carefree life that is "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible". Like everyone he knows, he spends his life climbing the social ladder. Enduring marriage to a ... (Wikipedia)

  25. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

    by Robert Louis Stevenson
    A man's internal struggle between good and evil forces, as he attempts to reconcile his dual personalities.

    Gabriel John Utterson and his cousin Richard Enfield reach the door of a large house on their weekly walk. Enfield tells Utterson that months ago, he saw a sinister-looking man named Edward Hyde ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Agamemnon

    by Aeschylus
    Ancient Greek tragedy about the return of Agamemnon from the Trojan War, and the consequences of his choices.

    Treating ancient plays as living drama. Classical Greek drama is brought vividly to life in this series of new translations. Students are encouraged to engage with the text through detailed ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Crucible

    by Arthur Miller
    A group of teenage girls face accusations of witchcraft in a puritanical society.

    "I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and ... (Goodreads)

  28. The Raven

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A man is visited by a mysterious raven, leading him on a journey of grief and reflection.

    In Gustave Doré, one of the most prolific and successful book illustrators of the late 19h century, Edgar Allan Poe's renowned poem The Raven found perhaps its most perfect artistic interpreter. ... (Goodreads)

  29. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

    by James Joyce
    An exploration of a young man's struggle to find his identity and place in the world.

    The portrayal of Stephen Dedalus's Dublin childhood and youth, his quest for identity through art and his gradual emancipation from the claims of family, religion and Ireland itself, is also an ... (Goodreads)

  30. Lysistrata

    by Aristophanes
    Women of Greece uniting to end the Peloponnesian War through a sex strike.

    These lines, spoken by the Athenian Lysistrata and her friend Calonice at the beginning of the play, , set the scene for the action that follows. Women, as represented by Calonice, are sly hedonists ... (Wikipedia)