Visualizing the Tragic: Drama, Myth, and Ritual in Greek Art and Literature

by Chris Kraus, Simon Goldhill, Helene P. Foley, Jas Elsner

Overview

Athenian tragedy of the fifth century BCE became an international and a canonical genre with remarkable rapidity. It is, therefore, a remarkable test case through which to explore how a genre becomes privileged and what the cultural effects of its continuing appropriation are. In this collection of essays by an international group of distinguished scholars the particular point of reference is the visual, that is, the myriad ways in which tragic texts are (re)interpreted, (re)appropriated, and (re)visualized through verbal and artistic description. Topics treated include the interaction of comedy and dithyramb with tragedy; vase painting and tragedy; representations of Dionysus, of Tragoedia, and of Nike; Homer, Aeschylus, Philostratus, and Longus; choral lyric and ritual performance, choral victories, and the staging of choruses on the modern stage. The common focus of all the essays is an engagement with and response to the unique scholarly voice of Froma Zeitlin.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199276028
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/26/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Chris Kraus is Professor of Classics at Yale University. Simon Goldhill is Professor of Greek at Cambridge University. Helene P. Foley is Professor of Classics at Barnard College, Columbia University. Jas Elsner is Humfry Payne Senior Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University.

Table of Contents

The Red-Gold Border, Ruth PadelI. Visualizing TragedyNotes on Tragic Visualizing in the Iliad, Laura SlatkinVisualizing the Choral: Epichoric Poetry, Ritual, and Elite Negotiation in Fifth-Century Thebes, Leslie KurkeOuter Limits, Choral Space, Richard MartinII. Drama on DramaWhat's in a Wall?, Simon GoldhillEuripides and Aristophanes: What Does Tragedy Teach?, Pietro PucciIII. Drama and Visualization: The Images of Tragedy and MythLooking at Shield Devices: Tragedy and Vase Painting, Francois LissarragueThe Invention of the Erinyes, Francoise Frontisi-DucrouxA New Pair of Pairs: Tragic Witnesses in Western Greek Vase-Painting, Oliver TaplinMedea in Eleusis, in Princeton, Luca Giuliani and Glenn W. MostIV. Visualizing Drama: The Divinities of Tragedy and ComedyTragedy Personified, Edith HallNike's Cosmetics: Dramatic Victory, the End of Comedy, and Beyond, Peter WilsonEverything to do with Dionysus? (Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm, inv. MM 1962:7/ABV 374 no. 197), John HendersonV. The History of Tragic VisionPulling the Other? Longus on Tragedy, Ewen BowiePhilostratus Visualizes the Tragic: Some Ecphrastic and Pictorial Receptions of Greek Tragedy in the Roman Era, Jas ElsnerEnvisioning the Tragic Chorus on the Modern Stage, Helene P. FoleyV. CodaRencontre avec Froma, Jean-Pierre VernantPresence de Froma Zeitlin, Pierre Vidal-Naquet