Euripidean Polemic: The Trojan Women and the Function of Tragedy

Croally, N.T.

Verlag: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York, 1994

Beschreibung

Navy cloth boards with gilt spine lettering; light blue dj with black and white lettering, mylar cover; xii, 315 pp. "This book sets out to interpret Euripides' The Trojan Women in the light of a view of tragedy which sees its function, as it was understood in classical Athens, as being didactic. This function, the author argues, was carried out by an examination of the ideology to which the audience subscribed. The Trojan Women, powerfully exploiting the dramatic context of the aftermath of the Trojan War, is a remarkable example of tragic teaching. The play questions a series of mutually reinforcing polarities (man/god; man/woman; Greek/barbarian; free/slave) through which an Athenian citizen defined himself, and also examines the dangers of rhetoric and the value of victory in war. By making the didactic function of tragedy the basis of interpretation, the author is able to offer a coherent view of a number of long-standing problems in Euripidean and tragic criticism, namely the relation of Euripides to the sophists, the pervasive self-reference and anachronism in Euripides, the problem of contemporary reference, and the construction and importance of the tragic scene. The book, which makes use of recent scholarship both in Classics and in critical theory, should be read by all those interested in Greek tragedy and in the culture of late fifth-century Athens."- dust jacket. Contents include: 1. Teaching, ideology and war. The didactic production. War and ideology. Polemos and logos: the conditions of production -- 2. Polarities. Ritual disorder. Aftermath of war: women on stage. No one is free. Who is the barbarian? Friends and enemies -- 3. The agon. The ends of the war. The causes of the war -- 4. Space and time. The space of Athens. Tragic space. Past, present and future: the space of Troy. Euripidean time. Senses of time: the characters. Senses of time: the play. Self-reference: the audience and the play -- 5. As if war had given a lecture -- Appendix: Ideology and war. Good+(Ex-library with stamps and labels on spine, inside front and rear covers, block and ffep.). Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 185465

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Euripidean Polemic: The Trojan Women and the...

Verlag: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York

Erscheinungsdatum: 1994

Einband: Hardcover