Product Description

As a creative medium, ancient Greek tragedy has had an extraordinarily wide influence: many of the surviving plays are still part of the theatrical repertoire, and texts like Agamemnon, Antigone, and Medea have had a profound effect on Western culture. This Companion is not a conventional introductory textbook but an attempt, by seven distinguished scholars, to present the familiar corpus in the context of modern reading, criticism, and performance of Greek tragedy. There are three main emphases: on tragedy as an institution in the civic life of ancient Athens, on a range of different critical interpretations arising from fresh readings of the texts, and on changing patterns of reception, adaptation, and performance from antiquity to the present. Each chapter can be read independently, but each is linked with the others, and most examples are drawn from the same selection of plays.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #146134 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 410 pages

Review
‘As a resource for teachers it is invaluable … Where else can such a wealth be found in one volume on tragedy?’ JACT Review

‘Classical scholars will find much to think about … and their students will find it invaluable. [The] book contains chapters that will launch a thousand essays. One may only hope that non-classicists will also be encouraged to explore the world of tragedy.’ Times Literary Supplement

‘… an innovative and authoritative work which not only is easily the and paedagogically most useful handbook for the study of this most influential of Greek cultural productions; in addition, the contributors all forward the restless debate on tragedy and its heritage as they delineate it’. The Anglo-Hellenic Review

Customer Reviews

classic essay collection
This is a good collection of essays giving a well rounded view of greek tragedy, a good atart for any student. I used this collection whist studying the plays at university and fount the further reading helpful too.

The essays cover context as well as the content of the plays providing an overview and helpful thematic commentary. They are grouped in three helpful sections, the first providing historical context, essential to understanding the plays, the second focussing more on the content, and the third a review on the plays in history.

Recommended reading for students or interested pleasure readers.