The Translator's Invisibility: Handling Irony

Abstract

Most translators of Greek drama would agree that different principles apply to the translation of comedy and tragedy. But what of those lighter moments to be found in Aeschylus and Sophocles, and the outright comic aspects of much of Euripides? Tragic irony is usually easy to spot, but is the same true of Euripides for whom palpable parody of Aeschylus may suggest that a similar tone should be found else­where in his plays to represent his perceived iconoclasm. Is the danger in making decisions about comic irony that they will determine the translator's interpretation and dictate it to readers, directors and performers?