A Companion to Greek Tragedy

The Blackwell Companion to Greek Tragedy provides readers with a fundamental grounding in Greek tragedy, and also introduces them to the various methodologies and the lively critical dialogue that characterize the study of Greek tragedy today. A Companion to Greek Tragedy provides readers with a fundamental grounding in Greek tragedy and also introduces them to the various methodologies and the lively critical dialogue that characterize the study of Greek tragedy today. The volume comprises 31 essays written by an international cohort of scholars. The essays are organized into four sections. The opening section on Contexts surveys Greek tragedy’s historical, religious, political, and artistic background. A section on Elements follows, examining the genre’s structural components. A section on Approaches presents a series of essays exemplifying particular lines of enquiry; and the final section on Reception traces the interpretative tradition from ancient to modern times. Throughout the volume, all ancient Greek is transliterated and translated, and technical terms are explained as they appear, making the Companion accessible to those without detailed knowledge of the language or the genre. The Blackwell Companion to Greek Tragedy provides readers with a fundamental grounding in Greek tragedy, and also introduces them to the various methodologies and the lively critical dialogue that characterize the study of Greek tragedy today. Comprises 31 original essays by an international cast of contributors, including up-and-coming as well as distinguished senior scholars Pays attention to socio-political, textual, and performance aspects of Greek tragedy All ancient Greek is transliterated and translated, and technical terms are explained as they appear Includes suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, and a generous and informative combined bibliography

This handbook provides students and scholars with a highly readable yet detailed analysis of all surviving Greek tragedies and satyr plays. John Ferguson places each play in its historical, political, and social context-important for both Athenian and modern audiences-and he displays a keen, discriminating critical competence in dealing with the plays as literature. Ferguson is sensitive to the meter and sound of Greek tragedy, and, with remarkable success, he manages to involve even the Greekless reader in an actual encounter with the Greek as poetry. He examines language and metrics in relation to each tragedian's dramatic purpose, thus elucidating the crucial dimension of technique that other handbooks, mostly the work of philologists, renounce in order to concentrate on structure and plot. The result is perceptive criticism in which the quality of Ferguson's scholarship vouches for what he sees in the plays. The book is prefaced with a general introduction to ancient Greek theatrical production, and there is a brief biographical sketch of each tragedian. Footnotes are avoided: the object of this handbook is to introduce readers to the plays as dramatic poetry, not to detail who said what about them. There is an extensive bibliography for scholars and a glossary of Greek words to assist the student with the operative moral and stylistic terms of Greek tragedy.