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A MEETING WITH OEDIPUS From an interview with the translator Gaga Rosie What 20th and 21st century novelties have you introduced in ancient dramas? I endeavoured primarily to rid the text or archaisms. Language is a living matter, as alive as the world, as alive as man, and the translation needs to be adjusted to it. In doing that I tried to preserve a certain mythic shadow, that is not to attune the language too much to the everyday speech because otherwise this great tragedy might burst at all its seams, as the French would say. And also, to invest the translation with a rhythm, the rhythm of poetic prose, if I may say so, so as not to strip the play strip bare in favour of its philosophical foundation. In other words, to add a lyrical element to its mythical and philosophical charge. You said you thought that Oedipus defies both directors and actors. Mrs Vida Ognjenovic says that she doesn't want to address the power, or human impotence, but rather to tell a story about "an emperor whose wisdom defeated the Sphinx". Oedipus is ail ofthat is everything. And more. A hundred readings of Oedipus are a hundred different readings. I've seen countless productions, in Greece and other countries and each one of them approached Oedipus in a different way. A great play has many layers and therefore many meanings which is gratifying for directors as it gives them freedom to approach it from his/her own viewpoint whilst, of course, respecting its substance; and to read it in a way in which he or she experiences it depending on his or her age, creativity and experience. Oedipus is absolutely a story about power. It is a story about man's impotence, man's arrogance, hubris, and also about man's greatness; it is a story about Fate, the struggle against destiny, the struggle against the frailty and impermanence, human suffering and a million other things. Its overall meaning surpasses the individual powers of directors and actors, just as life surpasses individual destinies; the director, therefore, opts for his or her own meeting with Oedipus and is fully entitled to do so. What do you see as the biggest trap when translating Oedipus? There is no trap. I was very uneasy during the translation of this eternal drama which cannot be emulated (that includes the translator's attempts to match it). At the end, after talking with Slobodan Unkovski, I realised how right he was when he said: "Gaga, fear doesn't enter here, why, who knows better than you that Oedipus never depended on translators, or actors, or directors, it has always been in the hands of godsl'That was the best definition I fell back on as I went on working. Evropa, 18 October 2007