Sophocles' Tragic World: Divinity, Nature, Society
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.21 (849 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0674821017 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-02-15 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Dan said Diverse & Important Collection. This is a traditional "collection of essays" as opposed to an ordered and sustained argument. As such, I find it invaluable. Indeed, there are multiple essays on Oedipus Tyrannus that everyone should read. I was particularly taken by his analysis of the Chorus. His (loosely) psychoanalytic reading of lament in Antigone is also, I think, something every scholar must at least be aware of. And he even tackles Lacan in what I found to be an unusually dense text for . Segal is uniquely unique C. E. Franklin I am a scholar of Ancient Greek Tragedy and as such an expert I can say that Charles Segal has the most unique opinon of Oedipus in particular, although his book covers various Sophoclean heroes, that I have come across in recent years. This text is fresh, and suprisingly clear and easy to understand. He leaves no rock unturned, no theory unaddressed. If you are looking on a guide to Oedipus, Antigone, Ajax, or Trachinian Women, you have come to the right place.
He examines the language and structure of the plays from several interpretive perspectives, drawing both on traditional philological analysis and on current literary and cultural theory. His delineation of the heroes and their tragedies encompasses their relations with city and family, conflicts between men and women, defiance of social institutions, and the interaction of society, nature, and the gods. He shows how these ancient masterpieces offer insight into the abiding question of tragedy: how one can make sense of a world that involves so much apparently meaningless violence and suffering.In a series of engagingly written interconnected essays, Segal studies five of Sophocles' seven extant plays: Ajax, Oedipus Tyrannus, Philoctetes, Antigone, and the often neglected Trachinian Women. Much has been written about the heroic figures of Sophocles' powerful dramas. He pays particular attention to the mythic and ritual backgrounds of the plays, noting Sophocles' reinterpretation of the ancient myths. Segal's analysis sheds new light on Sophocles' plays--among the most widely read works of classical literature--and on their implications for Greek views on the gods, moral life, and sexuality.. Now Charles Segal focuses our attention not on individual heroes and heroines, but on the world that inspired and motivated their actions--a universe of family, city, nature, and the supernatural
Segal's terrific, lucid book should also be required reading for anyone interested in the tragic stature of women in Greek tragedy. (Jim Neville JACT Review)Sophocles' Tragic World is an organized collection of nine essays (plus introduction) on five plays, Ajax, Trachiniae, Philoctetes, Antigone, and--especially--OT, to which four of the chapters are devoted. The dramas, Segal argues, present insoluble dilemmas that require the audience to engage with the situations the characters face, the choices the characters make, and the consequences of those choicesThis book will be of interest to anyone who wants a fuller appreciation of Sophocles' dramatic art. (M.S. Once more, Segal brings his considerable scholarship to bear on the plays of Sophocles, addressing five of the seven extant tragedies. For several decades now, Segal has been so
Klein Professor of the Classics at Harvard University. Charles Segal was Walter C.