#PS: your French is amazing! I just reply in English so that everyone can chime in

[antigonick]

Bonjour Pauline! J’ai vu ta guide d’Anne Carson et je suis pas sûr si je devrais acheter Bakkhai ou An Oresteia. J’aime les mythes de Dionysos mais j’ai déjà acheté autre version de cette histoire (n’est pas la version plus poétique et j’aime la poésie :/) et je veux lire An Oresteia parce-que c’est un peu gay, non ? (Je te promets que je connais un peu plus que ça sur Orestes ahdjfjfkgk) Très sérieusement, lequel est préférable ? Merci, et je suis désolée pour te déranger 💞

Tl;dr: Anon is hesitating between Carson’s “An Oresteia” and “Bakkhai.” (Also, tu ne me déranges pas du tout!)

Hahaha, oh, I’m guessing you’re judging An Oresteia on that line with Orestes and Pylades? Anyway, yes, it is a little gay, but Bakkhai is too (it’s Carson and Greek myth: when is it not?). The sexual tension between Dionysos & Pentheus is off the charts. It’s not the focus point in either book though.

I personally love them both, so I couldn’t say which one would be best for you. Carson’s Bakkhai is my favourite Bakkhai; gorgeous, dynamic, clever, cheeky as fuck. Her Dionysos has so much word-power. Carson is ascetic as a rule, and the way she talks about sex is usually very remote, very cold; but Bakkhai drips with it, with something honeyed and joyous and erratic. I haven’t seen this one performed on stage but when I think about that sliver of a text, I get a sense of buoyant noise, of scarlet behind the eyelids, it’s such a joy. (It’s actually pretty gruesome. But like. Joyfully?)

An Oresteia is much longer (you get three plays for the price of one + a bit of commentary for each), and feature some of my favourite characters (Elektra, Orestes, Kassandra) and some of Carson’s most evocative writing. There’s a lot of work on Elektra’s and Kassandra’s voices, their screaming, their expression and the going beyond expression. Not to mention, the Oresteia you get there is not the classical one, but reconstructed from several versions by several authors (Euripides, Aiskhylos, Sophokles), which is fascinating. These are stories we know well, but they taste renewed here. You get to see what shifts and what remains locked. You get to see the myth writhe. There are multiple angles from which to tackle the book—it felt less like a fever dream than Bakkhai did, but more intellectually thrilling.

So yeah. I hope the rambling gives you a better idea of what to expect. Ideally, buy/find both. If that’s not an option, I’m sorry (not really) to report that they’re both in my top 5 and I’m the worst chooser ever.