Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus

Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus

Author: Eirene Visvardi

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2015-01-27

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 9004285571

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Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus offers a new approach to the tragic chorus by examining how certain choruses ‘act’ on their shared feelings. Eirene Visvardi redefines choral action, analyzes choruses that enact fear and pity, and juxtaposes them to the Athenian dêmos in Thucydides’ History. Considered together, these texts undermine the sharp divide between emotion and reason and address a preoccupation that emerges as central in Athenian life: how to channel the motivational power of collective emotion into judicious action and render it conducive to cohesion and collective prosperity. Through their performance of emotion, tragic choruses raise the question of which collective voices deserve a hearing in the institutions of the polis and suggest diverse ways to envision passionate judgment and action.


Book Synopsis Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus by : Eirene Visvardi

Download or read book Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus written by Eirene Visvardi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus offers a new approach to the tragic chorus by examining how certain choruses ‘act’ on their shared feelings. Eirene Visvardi redefines choral action, analyzes choruses that enact fear and pity, and juxtaposes them to the Athenian dêmos in Thucydides’ History. Considered together, these texts undermine the sharp divide between emotion and reason and address a preoccupation that emerges as central in Athenian life: how to channel the motivational power of collective emotion into judicious action and render it conducive to cohesion and collective prosperity. Through their performance of emotion, tragic choruses raise the question of which collective voices deserve a hearing in the institutions of the polis and suggest diverse ways to envision passionate judgment and action.


From Agent to Spectator

From Agent to Spectator

Author: Emily Allen-Hornblower

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2016-03-07

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 3110430045

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This book looks at witnesses to suffering and death in ancient Greek epic (Homer’s Iliad) and tragedy. Internal spectators abound in both genres, and have received due scholarly attention. The present monograph covers new ground by dealing with a specific subset of characters: those who are put in the position of spectator to (and, often, commentator on) their own deed(s). By their very nature, protagonists are confined to the role of witness to the suffering (or deaths) they have caused only for brief stretches of time — often a single scene or even just the length of a speech — but every instance is of central importance, not just to our understanding of the characters in question, but also to the articulation of fundamental themes within the poetic works under examination. As they shift from the status of agent to that of witness, these protagonists, qua spectators to the consequences of their actions, give voice to, dramatize, and enact the tragic motifs of human helplessness and mortal fallibility that lie at the core of Homeric epic and Greek tragedy and that define the human condition, in a manner that leads the audience looking on to ponder their own.


Book Synopsis From Agent to Spectator by : Emily Allen-Hornblower

Download or read book From Agent to Spectator written by Emily Allen-Hornblower and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-03-07 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at witnesses to suffering and death in ancient Greek epic (Homer’s Iliad) and tragedy. Internal spectators abound in both genres, and have received due scholarly attention. The present monograph covers new ground by dealing with a specific subset of characters: those who are put in the position of spectator to (and, often, commentator on) their own deed(s). By their very nature, protagonists are confined to the role of witness to the suffering (or deaths) they have caused only for brief stretches of time — often a single scene or even just the length of a speech — but every instance is of central importance, not just to our understanding of the characters in question, but also to the articulation of fundamental themes within the poetic works under examination. As they shift from the status of agent to that of witness, these protagonists, qua spectators to the consequences of their actions, give voice to, dramatize, and enact the tragic motifs of human helplessness and mortal fallibility that lie at the core of Homeric epic and Greek tragedy and that define the human condition, in a manner that leads the audience looking on to ponder their own.


Style and Necessity in Thucydides

Style and Necessity in Thucydides

Author: TOBIAS. JOHO

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-11-17

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0198812043

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Ancient literary critics were struck by what they described as Thucydides' "nominal style," a term that refers to Thucydides' fondness for abstract nominal phrases. As this book shows, Thucydides frequently uses these phrases instead of approximately synonymous verbal and personalconstructions. These stylistic choices tend to deemphasize human agency: people find themselves in a passive role, exposed to incidents happening to them rather than being actively in charge of events. Thus, the analysis of the abstract style raises the question of necessity in Thucydides.On numerous occasions, Thucydides and his speakers use impersonal and passive language to stress the subjection of human beings to transpersonal forces that manifest themselves in collective passions and an inherent dynamic of events. These factors are constitutive of the human condition and becomea substitute for the notion of divine fatalism prevalent in earlier Greek thought. Yet Thucydidean necessity is not absolute. It stands in the tradition of a type of fatalism that one finds in Homer and Herodotus. In these authors, the gods or fate tend to settle the outcome of the most significantevents, but they leave leeway for the specific way in which these pivotal events come to pass. Thus, the Greeks endorsed a malleable variant of necessity, so that considerable scope for human choice persists within the framework fixed by necessity. Pericles turns out to be Thucydides' prime exampleof an individual who uses the leeway left by necessity for prudent interventions into the course of events.


Book Synopsis Style and Necessity in Thucydides by : TOBIAS. JOHO

Download or read book Style and Necessity in Thucydides written by TOBIAS. JOHO and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-11-17 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient literary critics were struck by what they described as Thucydides' "nominal style," a term that refers to Thucydides' fondness for abstract nominal phrases. As this book shows, Thucydides frequently uses these phrases instead of approximately synonymous verbal and personalconstructions. These stylistic choices tend to deemphasize human agency: people find themselves in a passive role, exposed to incidents happening to them rather than being actively in charge of events. Thus, the analysis of the abstract style raises the question of necessity in Thucydides.On numerous occasions, Thucydides and his speakers use impersonal and passive language to stress the subjection of human beings to transpersonal forces that manifest themselves in collective passions and an inherent dynamic of events. These factors are constitutive of the human condition and becomea substitute for the notion of divine fatalism prevalent in earlier Greek thought. Yet Thucydidean necessity is not absolute. It stands in the tradition of a type of fatalism that one finds in Homer and Herodotus. In these authors, the gods or fate tend to settle the outcome of the most significantevents, but they leave leeway for the specific way in which these pivotal events come to pass. Thus, the Greeks endorsed a malleable variant of necessity, so that considerable scope for human choice persists within the framework fixed by necessity. Pericles turns out to be Thucydides' prime exampleof an individual who uses the leeway left by necessity for prudent interventions into the course of events.


Choral Tragedy

Choral Tragedy

Author: Claude Calame

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2024-05-02

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1009033883

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Ever since Aristotle opened the discussion on the role of the chorus in Greek tragedy, theories of the chorus have continued to proliferate and provoke debate to this day. The tragic chorus had its own story to tell; it was a collective identity, speaking within and to a collective citizen body, acting as an instrument through which stories of other times and places were dramatized into resonant heroic narratives for contemporary Athens. By including detailed case studies of three different tragedies (one each by Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles), Claude Calame's seminal study not only re-examines the role of the chorus in Greek tragedy, but pushes beyond this to argue for the 'polyphony' of choral performance. Here, he explores the fundamentally choral nature of the genre, and its deep connection to the cultic and ritual contexts in which tragedy was performed.


Book Synopsis Choral Tragedy by : Claude Calame

Download or read book Choral Tragedy written by Claude Calame and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2024-05-02 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since Aristotle opened the discussion on the role of the chorus in Greek tragedy, theories of the chorus have continued to proliferate and provoke debate to this day. The tragic chorus had its own story to tell; it was a collective identity, speaking within and to a collective citizen body, acting as an instrument through which stories of other times and places were dramatized into resonant heroic narratives for contemporary Athens. By including detailed case studies of three different tragedies (one each by Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles), Claude Calame's seminal study not only re-examines the role of the chorus in Greek tragedy, but pushes beyond this to argue for the 'polyphony' of choral performance. Here, he explores the fundamentally choral nature of the genre, and its deep connection to the cultic and ritual contexts in which tragedy was performed.


Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama

Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama

Author: Alexandra Hardwick

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-01-17

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0198887248

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Despite the crucial roles they often play, no study yet compares the off-stage assemblies, armies, and populations found in surviving Athenian dramatic works. Covering fifth- and early fourth-century tragedy and comedy, Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama analyses how off-stage groups influence and respond to events on stage, and how characters interact with these groups. Drama exploits these groups' off-stage nature by depicting them through different characters' viewpoints: characters often struggle to define, predict, or control off-stage groups, which obscures and challenges the audience's ability to interpret them. The interaction between multivalent and sometimes contradictory narratives of off-stage groups demands a new interpretive framework. Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama provides this framework, offering new readings of several prominent comedies and tragedies. However, the importance of this framework extends beyond drama. The first chapter surveys depictions of group decision-making in fifth-century prose, in order to demonstrate how Athenian drama responds to prose depictions of group psychology. Athenian drama engages with the early ideas of group psychology circulating in fifth- and early fourth-century Athens; it creates fictive worlds where stereotypical depictions of collective emotion can be probed, explored and taken to their logical extremes. Studying off-stage groups therefore allows us to rethink our understanding of narrative, politics, and social psychology in drama, and the ways in which these fields intersect.


Book Synopsis Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama by : Alexandra Hardwick

Download or read book Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama written by Alexandra Hardwick and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-01-17 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the crucial roles they often play, no study yet compares the off-stage assemblies, armies, and populations found in surviving Athenian dramatic works. Covering fifth- and early fourth-century tragedy and comedy, Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama analyses how off-stage groups influence and respond to events on stage, and how characters interact with these groups. Drama exploits these groups' off-stage nature by depicting them through different characters' viewpoints: characters often struggle to define, predict, or control off-stage groups, which obscures and challenges the audience's ability to interpret them. The interaction between multivalent and sometimes contradictory narratives of off-stage groups demands a new interpretive framework. Off-Stage Groups in Athenian Drama provides this framework, offering new readings of several prominent comedies and tragedies. However, the importance of this framework extends beyond drama. The first chapter surveys depictions of group decision-making in fifth-century prose, in order to demonstrate how Athenian drama responds to prose depictions of group psychology. Athenian drama engages with the early ideas of group psychology circulating in fifth- and early fourth-century Athens; it creates fictive worlds where stereotypical depictions of collective emotion can be probed, explored and taken to their logical extremes. Studying off-stage groups therefore allows us to rethink our understanding of narrative, politics, and social psychology in drama, and the ways in which these fields intersect.


Praise and Blame in Greek Tragedy

Praise and Blame in Greek Tragedy

Author: Kate Cook

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-01-11

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1350410519

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Exploring the use of praise and blame in Greek tragedy in relation to heroic identity, Kate Cook demonstrates that the distribution of praise and blame, a significant social function of archaic and classical poetry, also plays a key role in Greek tragedy. Both concepts are a central part of the discourse surrounding the identity of male heroic figures in tragedy, and thus are essential for understanding a range of tragedies in their literary and social contexts. In the tragic genre, the destructive or dangerous aspects of the process of kleos (glory) are explored, and the distribution of praise and blame becomes a way of destabilising identity and conflict between individuals in democratic Athens. The first half of this book shows the kinds of conflicts generated by 'heroes' who seek after one kind of praise in tragedy, but face other characters or choruses who refuse to grant the praise discourses they desire. The second half examines what happens when female speakers engage in the production of these discourses, particularly the wives and mothers of heroic figures, who often refuse to contribute to the production of praise and positive kleos for these men. Praise and Blame in Greek Tragedy therefore demonstrates how a focus on this poetically significant topic can generate new readings of well-known tragedies, and develops a new approach to both male heroic identity and women's speech in tragedy.


Book Synopsis Praise and Blame in Greek Tragedy by : Kate Cook

Download or read book Praise and Blame in Greek Tragedy written by Kate Cook and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-01-11 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the use of praise and blame in Greek tragedy in relation to heroic identity, Kate Cook demonstrates that the distribution of praise and blame, a significant social function of archaic and classical poetry, also plays a key role in Greek tragedy. Both concepts are a central part of the discourse surrounding the identity of male heroic figures in tragedy, and thus are essential for understanding a range of tragedies in their literary and social contexts. In the tragic genre, the destructive or dangerous aspects of the process of kleos (glory) are explored, and the distribution of praise and blame becomes a way of destabilising identity and conflict between individuals in democratic Athens. The first half of this book shows the kinds of conflicts generated by 'heroes' who seek after one kind of praise in tragedy, but face other characters or choruses who refuse to grant the praise discourses they desire. The second half examines what happens when female speakers engage in the production of these discourses, particularly the wives and mothers of heroic figures, who often refuse to contribute to the production of praise and positive kleos for these men. Praise and Blame in Greek Tragedy therefore demonstrates how a focus on this poetically significant topic can generate new readings of well-known tragedies, and develops a new approach to both male heroic identity and women's speech in tragedy.


The Music of Tragedy

The Music of Tragedy

Author: Naomi A. Weiss

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2024-05-21

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0520401441

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The Music of Tragedy offers a new approach to the study of classical Greek theater by examining the use of musical language, imagery, and performance in the late work of Euripides. Naomi Weiss demonstrates that Euripides' allusions to music-making are not just metatheatrical flourishes or gestures towards musical and religious practices external to the drama but closely interwoven with the dramatic plot. Situating Euripides' experimentation with the dramaturgical effects of mousike within a broader cultural context, she shows how much of his novelty lies in his reinvention of traditional lyric styles and motifs for the tragic stage. If we wish to understand better the trajectories of this most important ancient art form, The Music of Tragedy argues, we must pay closer attention to the role played by both music and text.


Book Synopsis The Music of Tragedy by : Naomi A. Weiss

Download or read book The Music of Tragedy written by Naomi A. Weiss and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Music of Tragedy offers a new approach to the study of classical Greek theater by examining the use of musical language, imagery, and performance in the late work of Euripides. Naomi Weiss demonstrates that Euripides' allusions to music-making are not just metatheatrical flourishes or gestures towards musical and religious practices external to the drama but closely interwoven with the dramatic plot. Situating Euripides' experimentation with the dramaturgical effects of mousike within a broader cultural context, she shows how much of his novelty lies in his reinvention of traditional lyric styles and motifs for the tragic stage. If we wish to understand better the trajectories of this most important ancient art form, The Music of Tragedy argues, we must pay closer attention to the role played by both music and text.


A Cultural History of Tragedy in Antiquity

A Cultural History of Tragedy in Antiquity

Author: Emily Wilson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-05-20

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1350154873

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In this volume, tragedy in antiquity is examined synoptically, from its misty origins in archaic Greece, through its central position in the civic life of ancient Athens and its performances across the Greek-speaking world, to its new and very different instantiations in Republican and Imperial Roman contexts. Lively, original essays by eminent scholars trace the shifting dramatic forms, performance environments, and social meanings of tragedy as it was repeatedly reinvented. Tragedy was consistently seen as the most serious of all dramatic genres; these essays trace a sequence of different visions of what the most serious kind of dramatic story might be, and the most appropriate ways of telling those stories on stage. Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation; communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social theory; religion, ritual, and myth; politics of city and nation; society and family, and gender and sexuality.


Book Synopsis A Cultural History of Tragedy in Antiquity by : Emily Wilson

Download or read book A Cultural History of Tragedy in Antiquity written by Emily Wilson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-20 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, tragedy in antiquity is examined synoptically, from its misty origins in archaic Greece, through its central position in the civic life of ancient Athens and its performances across the Greek-speaking world, to its new and very different instantiations in Republican and Imperial Roman contexts. Lively, original essays by eminent scholars trace the shifting dramatic forms, performance environments, and social meanings of tragedy as it was repeatedly reinvented. Tragedy was consistently seen as the most serious of all dramatic genres; these essays trace a sequence of different visions of what the most serious kind of dramatic story might be, and the most appropriate ways of telling those stories on stage. Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation; communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social theory; religion, ritual, and myth; politics of city and nation; society and family, and gender and sexuality.


At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion

At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion

Author: Sinclair W. Bell

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2018-09-30

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 1789690145

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Papers in honour of Carin M. C. Green (1948-2015) are presented under 3 headings: (1) Greek philosophy, history, and historiography; (2) Latin literature, history, and historiography; and (3) Greco-Roman material culture, religion, and literature


Book Synopsis At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion by : Sinclair W. Bell

Download or read book At the Crossroads of Greco-Roman History, Culture, and Religion written by Sinclair W. Bell and published by Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2018-09-30 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Papers in honour of Carin M. C. Green (1948-2015) are presented under 3 headings: (1) Greek philosophy, history, and historiography; (2) Latin literature, history, and historiography; and (3) Greco-Roman material culture, religion, and literature


Forms of Emotion

Forms of Emotion

Author: Peta Tait

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-29

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1000464431

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Forms of Emotion analyses how drama, theatre and contemporary performance present emotion and its human and nonhuman diversity. This book explores the emotions, emotional feelings, mood, and affect, which make up a spectrum of ‘emotion’, to illuminate theatrical knowledge and practice and reflect the distinctions and debates in philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and other disciplines. This study asserts that specific forms of emotion are intentionally unified in drama, theatre, and performance to convey meaning, counteract separation and subversively champion emotional freedom. The book progressively shows that the dramatic and theatrical representation of the nonhuman reveals how human dominance is offset by emotional connection with birds, animals, and the natural environment. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers interested in the emotions and affect in dramatic literature, theatre studies, performance studies, psychology, and philosophy as well as artists working with emotionally expressive performance.


Book Synopsis Forms of Emotion by : Peta Tait

Download or read book Forms of Emotion written by Peta Tait and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-11-29 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forms of Emotion analyses how drama, theatre and contemporary performance present emotion and its human and nonhuman diversity. This book explores the emotions, emotional feelings, mood, and affect, which make up a spectrum of ‘emotion’, to illuminate theatrical knowledge and practice and reflect the distinctions and debates in philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and other disciplines. This study asserts that specific forms of emotion are intentionally unified in drama, theatre, and performance to convey meaning, counteract separation and subversively champion emotional freedom. The book progressively shows that the dramatic and theatrical representation of the nonhuman reveals how human dominance is offset by emotional connection with birds, animals, and the natural environment. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers interested in the emotions and affect in dramatic literature, theatre studies, performance studies, psychology, and philosophy as well as artists working with emotionally expressive performance.