The Passions in Play
Thyestes and the Dynamics of Senecan Drama
£90.00
- Author: Alessandro Schiesaro, King's College London
- Date Published: September 2003
- availability: Available
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521818018
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This monograph is devoted to the most important of Seneca's tragedies, Thyestes, which has had a notable influence on Western drama from Shakespeare to Antonin Artaud. Thyestes emerges as the mastertext of 'Silver' Latin poetry, and as an original reflection on the nature of theatre comparable to Euripides' Bacchae. The book analyses the complex structure of the play, its main themes, the relationship between Seneca's vibrant style and his obsession with dark issues of revenge and regression. Substantial discussion of other plays - especially Trojan Women, Oedipus and Medea - permits a comprehensive re-evaluation of Seneca's poetics and its pivotal role in post-Virgilian literature. Topics explored include the relationship between Seneca's plays and his theory of the emotions, the connection between poetic inspiration and the Underworld, and Seneca's treatment of time, which, in a perspective informed by psychoanalysis, is seen as a central preoccupation of Senecan tragedy.
Read more- Focuses on Seneca's best play and the one most frequently read
- Makes sophisticated use of literary and psychoanalytic theory
- Pays sustained attention to the connection between Seneca's style and themes
Reviews & endorsements
'… this book will be essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in imperial Latin literature.' The Times Literary Supplement
See more reviews'Schiesaro has been one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking of the scholars engaged in retrieving Seneca's reputation from the short-sighted disdain of those who dismissed his work as suitable only for recitation.' George W. M. Harrison, University of Crete
'Schiesaro eschews jargon whenever possible, preferring to lead the reader to his conclusions by the force of his arguments and the elegance of his language …' Bryn Mawr Classical Review
'… it is hard not to be impressed by the dazzling touches, the sudden insights, that enhance the provocative and generally persuasive argument of this important volume.' Hermathena
'A fine work indeed.' Journal of Roman Studies
'… the first sustained literary analysis of the Thyestes, which many consider to be Seneca's best tragedy. … careful indexes and an extensive bibliography.' Religious Studies Review
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×Product details
- Date Published: September 2003
- format: Hardback
- isbn: 9780521818018
- length: 300 pages
- dimensions: 235 x 159 x 23 mm
- weight: 0.604kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Note on translations
Introduction
1. Poetry, passions and knowledge
2. Staging Thyestes
3. A craftier Tereus
4. Atreus rex
5. Fata se vertunt retro
6. The poetics of passions
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index of passages cited
General index.
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