The Cambridge Introduction to Tragedy

An introductory study into tragedy in drama and literature, and in the real world.

Jennifer Wallace (Author)

9780521671491, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 May 2007

252 pages, 10 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm, 0.418 kg

'The coverage is comprehensive and the writing is of a high quality and clear.' Teaching Drama

Tragedy is the art-form created to confront the most difficult experiences we face: death, loss, injustice, thwarted passion, despair. From ancient Greek theatre up to the most recent plays, playwrights have found, in tragic drama, a means to seek explanation for disaster. But tragedy is also a word we continually encounter in the media, to denote an event which is simply devastating in its emotional power. This introduction explores the relationship between tragic experience and tragic representation. After giving an overview of the tragic theatre canon - including chapters on the Greeks, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, post-colonial drama, and Beckett - it also looks at the contribution which philosophers have brought to this subject, before ranging across other art-forms and areas of debate. The book is unique in its chronological range, and brings a wide spectrum of examples, from both literature and life, into the discussion of this emotional and frequently controversial subject.

1. Approaching the subject
2. Tragic drama: 2.1. The Greeks
2.2. Seneca and Racine
2.3. Shakespeare
2.4. Romantic tragedy: Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov
2.5. American tragedy
2.6. Postcolonial tragedy
2.7. Beckett
Case studies 1: Physical violence and dismemberment
Case studies 2: Language
3. Tragic theory: 3.1. Aristotle
3.2. Hegel
3.3. Nietzsche
3.4. Kierkegaard
3.5. Camus
3.6. Girard
Case studies 1: Fate
Case studies 2: Politics
Case studies 3: Gender
4. Non-dramatic tragedy: 4.1. Visual culture
4.2. Novel
4.3. Film
4.4. Psychoanalysis
4.5. Theology
5. Coda: Tragic sites
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]