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Sophocles and the Greek Tragic Tradition

Sophocles and the Greek Tragic Tradition

Sophocles and the Greek Tragic Tradition

Simon Goldhill, University of Cambridge
Edith Hall, Royal Holloway, University of London
December 2011
Available
Paperback
9781107404045
AUD$79.05
exc GST
Paperback
exc GST
Hardback

    This book contains thirteen essays by senior international experts on Greek tragedy looking at Sophocles' dramas. They reassess their crucial role in the creation of the tragic repertoire, in the idea of the tragic canon in antiquity, and in the making and infinite re-creation of the tragic tradition in the Renaissance and beyond. The introduction looks at the paradigm shifts during the twentieth century in the theory and practice of Greek theatre, in order to gain a perspective on the current state of play in Sophoclean studies. The following three sections explore respectively the way that Sophocles' tragedies provoked and educated their original Athenian democratic audience, the language, structure and lasting impact of his Oedipus plays, and the centrality of his oeuvre in the development of the tragic tradition in Aeschylus, Euripides, ancient philosophical theory, fourth-century tragedy and Shakespeare.

    • World-class set of contributors reassess the state of play in studies of Sophocles
    • Applies recently developed models of Greek tragedy to longstanding questions in classical scholarship
    • Combines discussions of all Sophocles' surviving plays with a broad contextualisation of his work within and beyond antiquity

    Reviews & endorsements

    Review of the hardback: '… a fine book, one that re-appraises Sophocles' legacy in a way that repays consideration.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review

    See more reviews

    Product details

    December 2011
    Paperback
    9781107404045
    354 pages
    229 × 152 × 19 mm
    0.47kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • List of illustrations
    • Notes on contributors
    • Foreword Paul Cartledge
    • Acknowledgements
    • List of abbreviations
    • 1. Sophocles: the state of play Simon Goldhill and Edith Hall
    • Part I. Between Audience and Actor:
    • 2. The audience on stage: rhetoric, emotion, and judgement in Sophoclean theatre Simon Goldhill
    • 3. 'The players will tell all': the dramatist, the actors and the art of acting in Sophocles' Philoctetes Ismene Lada-Richards
    • 4. Deianeira deliberates: precipitate decision-making and Trachiniae Edith Hall
    • Part II. Oedipus and the Play of Meaning:
    • 5. Inconclusive conclusion: the ending(s) of the Oedipus Tyrannus Peter Burian
    • 6. The third stasimon of Oedipus at Colonus Chris Carey
    • 7. The logic of the unexpected: semantic diversion in Sophocles, Yeats (and Virgil) Michael Silk
    • 8. The French Oedipus of the inter-war period Fiona Macintosh
    • Part III. Constructing Tragic Traditions:
    • 9. Theoretical views of Athenian tragedy in the 5th century BC Kostas Valakas
    • 10. Athens and Delphi in Aeschylus' Oresteia Angus Bowie
    • 11. Feminized males in Bacchae: the importance of discrimination Richard Buxton
    • 12. Hektor's helmet glinting in a fourth-century tragedy Oliver Taplin
    • 13. Seeing a Roman tragedy through Greek eyes: Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Chris Pelling
    • Bibliography
    • Index.
      Contributors
    • Paul Cartledge, Simon Goldhill, Edith Hall, Ismene Lada-Richards, Peter Burian, Chris Carey, Michael Silk, Fiona Macintosh, Kostas Valakas, Angus Bowie, Richard Buxton, Oliver Taplin, Chris Pelling

    • Editors
    • Simon Goldhill , University of Cambridge
    • Edith Hall , Royal Holloway, University of London