With a stunning command of the Greek language and a mastery of poetic nuance, this translation of Euripides' play breathes unparalleled life into an ancient masterpiece. Using vocabulary that gives the sense that the play was written with an appreciation of and application to the 20th and 21st centuries, this adaptation goes beyond the timeless plot of the consequences of war and the fate of both the victors and the losers and focuses on the modern-day issues of feminism and women's rights. Also included in this volume are two long poems—"Helen" and "Orestes"—by contemporary Greek poet Yannis Ritsos, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize.

Gwendolyn MacEwen was born in Toronto in 1941 and died there in 1987. A writer of great talent and versatility, she wrote novels, travel books, children's books and radio drama, as well as poetry books including The Shadow-Maker (1969) and Afterworlds (1987), both of which won Governor General's Awards. She published two collections of short stories, Noman (1972) and Noman's Land (1985), which includes "The Other Country," a prize winner in the 1983 CBC Canadian Literary Awards.

Gwendolyn MacEwen's profile page

Claudia Dey is a graduate of McGill and the National Theatre School. Her plays, Beaver (2000), The Gwendolyn Poems (2002) and Trout Stanley (2005) have been performed in Toronto, Montreal, New York and Vancouver. The Gwendolyn Poems was shortlisted for the 2002 Governor Generalâ??s Literary Award and a Trillium Award. Dey also the author of the acclaimed novel Stunt.

Claudia Dey's profile page

“It’s significant that MacEwen would choose to translate The Trojan Women and Helen texts, for after all, they are filled with the plaint of women, their powerlessness, their victimization, and a sense of isolation . . . The vocabulary of these translations is so much MacEwen’s own that they seem almost to have been written by her. These translations are deeply felt.”

Margaret Atwood, author of The Penelopiad