Robert Bagg: Poems, Greek Plays, Essays, Novels, Memoir

The Complete Euripides: Volume III, Hippolytos, and other plays(Oxford UP) is now out.

HORSEGOD: Collected Poems is now published and available from the iUniverse online bookstore, and the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. On the iUniverse site you'll find a full description of HORSEGOD; at Horsegood: Collected Poems you'll find sample poems, a table of contents, a listing of current readings and book launch events, and other information. Amazon and B & N currently offer the best combined deals on price and shipping. On Bob's Blague page is a review of HORSEGOD by Patrick Gillespie, recently posted on his website, PoemShape.

Bagg's translation of the Bakkhai was recently staged by the Utah Theatre Department as a Rock Opera with a bravura score by Joe Payne (who also designed the set) and directed by Larry West for five performances. For a few days the Mormon reaction to the production's radical take on the play stirred up a prime-time controversy in the press, on TV and the internet over morality and censorship. What was happening seemed interesting, so Bagg flew out to watch from a ringside seat. In a bizarre development, BYU cancelled the September 21st production of The Bakkhai, even as the touring company was setting up to perform. The BYU Theatre Department Chair cited (without specifying) certain aspects of the production that he feared would trouble BYU's student body. (See Bob's Blague for a report on his trip.) Three songs (downloadable at http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2009/09/17/greek-glam-tragedy) from the score really do rock; the young actor playing Dionysos has a Jim Morrison-like affect and voice; the Maenads look smashing in the photos and sing exuberantly. There's already a cast album CD available for sale by the Utah Theatre Department. To watch and hear about nine minutes of the show visit the following clip on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Sk_d2rO3c

Also recently posted on Bob's Blague is Kirkus Discoveries' pre-publication review of HORSEGOD, as well as Bob's discussion of the increasingly pertinent advantanges of self-publishing: "Why Perish? Self-Publish!"

A new version of "The Tandem Ride" is on the Poetry page, as well as updated versions of several narrative poems, including "Ostrakoi," now that it's been published in Yale Review (Spring, 2009). New to the Essays page is "Love, Ceremony and Daydream in Sappho's Lyrics," a detailed exploration of how Sappho used divinity and daydream in her poems to create a unique ambiance of shared intimacy for the young women in her circle. Also recent on the Essays page is an appreciation of James Scully, a fearless poet of extraordinary pertinence who writes real poems about real crimes whose true malevolence most Americans have yet to apprehend. Posted on the Memoir page are some remembered encounters with Frost, Wilbur, Plath, Ginsburg, Corso and others. Complete Texts of two novels, OSTRAKON & VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES may be downloaded from the Fiction page. More of Bagg's poems may now be scrolled thru on the Poetry page. A review of the Barnard College October, 2008 production of Bagg's version of Euripides' HIPPOLYTOS is posted on the site's Blague page. Next up on the Memoir page later this year will be Bagg's account of how he came to write poetry and translate Greek plays.

You'll find here representative works by Robert Bagg––published and unpublished––in several genres: poetry, translation of Greek drama, literary criticism, fiction, memoir. Bagg is best known for his accurate and playable translations of the plays of Euripides and Sophokles—see a partial list of his productions on the lower left—and for poems that confront the unavoidable: love, friendship, death, regret, violence, pleasure, enlightenment, godhood; as well as more specific contemporary threats: nuclear war, terrorism, and democratically elected tyrants. Many of these works may be downloaded in their entirety.

The Essays page includes Bagg’s most recently published essay, which explores the neglected religious aspects of Richard Wilbur’s poetry, and others that address recurrent literary controversies.

On the Fiction page you'll find downloadable files of Bagg’s two unpublished novels. The first, Villa of the Mysteries, follows the troubles a newlywed couple face in Cap d’Antibes, France, during the tumultuous events of 1958; the second, Ostrakon, is the story of Jack Stoneycroft, a Professor of History, whose career is both destroyed and clarified when he’s charged with sexual harassment.

On the Memoir page Bagg will post reflections on various eras and aspects of his life as they're completed, or freed for posting after publication in various journals.

The Translations page provides access to substantial excerpts from the seven plays by Euripides and Sophokles that Bagg has translated. Plot summaries of the plays and some biographical notes are found in the sidebars.

This site will remain a work-in-progress, so if you're interested in seeing new poems, recent literary essays, and further installments of the memoir, check in from time to time.

At the bottom of this page you'll find links to Bagg’s publishers, should you want a hard copy or wish to see complete copies of the plays and poems.