Tragic Modernities - Couverture rigide

Leonard, Miriam

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0674743938 ISBN 13 : 9780674743939

Editeur : Harvard University Press, 2015

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

The ancient Greek tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides have long been considered foundational works of Western literature, revered for their aesthetic perfection and timeless truths. Under the microscope of recent scholarship, however, the presumed universality of Greek tragedy has started to fade, as the particularities of Athenian culture have come into sharper focus. The world revealed is so far removed from modern sensibilities that, in the eyes of many, tragedy s viability as a modern art form has been fatally undermined. "Tragic Modernities" steers a new course between the uncritical appreciation and the resolute historicism of the past two centuries, to explore the continuing relevance of tragedy in contemporary life. Through the writings of such influential figures as Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, tragedy became a crucial reference point for philosophical and intellectual arguments. These thinkers turned to Greek tragedy in particular to support their claims about history, revolution, gender, and sexuality. From Freud s Oedipus complex to Nietzsche s Dionysiac, from Hegel s dialectics to Marx s alienation, tragedy provided the key terms and mental architecture of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By highlighting the philosophical significance of tragedy, Miriam Leonard makes a compelling case for the ways tragedy has shaped the experience of modernity and elucidates why modern conceptualizations of tragedy necessarily color our understanding of antiquity. Exceptional in its scope and argument, "Tragic Modernities" contests the idea of the death of tragedy and argues powerfully for the continued vitality of Greek tragic theater in the central debates of contemporary culture."

Revue de presse :

Leonard s brilliant examination opens up the discussion of the tragic in exciting ways. Her eloquent, sure-footed readings render difficult philosophical and literary texts newly accessible. --Page duBois, University of California, San Diego"

"This is an ambitious and well-researched book, which has important things to say about both tragedy and modernity. It also raises issues of method that seem relevant not only to the particular topics addressed, but also to the study of classical reception more generally. --Times Higher Education

"While Leonard is excellent at highlighting the importance of a philosophical reading of tragedy in modernity, she demonstrates in the process that the political and historical are not entirely separate from the philosophical [...] Both books amply demonstrate how studying the reception of the classics, and our engagement with the past can provide guidance for the present." -- Times Literary Supplement

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Harvard University Press
• Date d'édition: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0674743938
• ISBN 13: 9780674743939
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 224