The subject of tragedy is at once intimidating and well-worn. All credit then to the editors for having commissioned a varied collection of essays that breaks fresh ground and makes unexpected connections. Contributors are not afraid to ask large questions, for example about the transcultural appeal of tragedy or its compatibility with the postmodern condition. There is an emphasis on enriching intertextualities and reception histories; on the light that different tragic traditions with their continuities and dissonances can cast on one another. The volume as a whole suggests some future directions our conversations about tragedy might profitably take.
Tragedy in Transition is an innovative and exciting volume that explores the theory and practice of tragedy from the Greek tragedians to the present day, tracing important developments, continuities,and discontinuities in the tragic tradition and exploring the afterlives of some of the most resonant tragic narratives. Central questions - the role of the gods, for example - are examined in unexpected ways, and less traditional topics -including childhood and science fiction - allow new questions to be opened up. The volume as a whole employs a range of theoretical and critical approaches to press the boundaries of tragedy,encouraging the reader to interrogate the parameters and significance of the genre.
An ideal resource for students, this accessible anthology offers an up-to-date and lively critique of a wide range of topics in the field.
Notes on Contributors
Preface
Introduction: Tragedy in Transition
Sarah Annes Brown
1 Trojan Suffering, Tragic Gods, and Transhistorical Metaphysics
Edith Hall
2 Hardcore Tragedy
Ewan Fernie
3 Tragedy and Disgust
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
4 Tragedy and the Sign of the Eclipse
Anne C. Henry
5 Jonson's Too Roman Plays: From Julius Caesar to Sejanus and Catiline
John Henderson
6 Neoclassicisms
Raphael Lyne
7 Tragedy and Exile
Jennifer Wallace
8 Narratives of Tragic Empathy: Prometheus Bound and Frankenstein
Vanda Zajko
9 Tragedy and Childhood
Peter Hollindale
10 Parricide versus Filicide: Oedipus and Medea on the Modern Stage
Fiona Macintosh
11 "Suffering into Wisdom": The Tragedy of Wilde
Alison Hennegan
12 Tarzan of Athens, Dionysus in Africa: Wilson Knight and
Wole Soyinka
Nell Rhodes
13 Postmodern Tragedy? Returning to John Ford
Mark Houlahan
14 Tragedy and the Future
Rowland Wymer
Afterword: Ending Tragedy
Catherine Silverstone
Bibliography
Index