UWM’s David Mulroy Translates “Oedipus at Colonus”
David Mulroy, professor emeritus of classics at UWM, recently completed translating “Oedipus at Colonus,” the third in Sophocles’ trilogy of Greek tragedies. (The trilogy focuses on the king of Thebes and his unhappy family, and includes “Oedipus Rex,” and “Antigone.”)
“Oedipus at Colonus,” published earlier this year as part of University of Wisconsin Press’s Wisconsin Studies in Classics, has received critical praise for its combination of scrupulous scholarship and a fresh poetic style. Mulroy, who taught classics at UWM for nearly 40 years, has published six books of translations of Greek and Latin poetry as well as “The War Against Grammar,” a popular history and defense of grammar.
He is currently translating another trilogy of classic Greek plays – Aeschylus’ “Oresteia,” which includes“Agamemnon,” “The Libation Bearers,” and “The Eumenides.” He talks about his translation of Sophocles’ trilogy from Greek to English and the value of the classics in modern society.