Seneca and the idea of tragedy / Gregory A. Staley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Staley, Gregory Allan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65 A.D. Tragedies.

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus.

Mythology, Classical, in literature.

Tragedy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

As both a literary genre and a view of life, tragedy has from the very beginning spurred a dialogue between poetry and philosophy. Plato famously banned tragedians from his ideal community because he believed that their representations of vicious behavior could deform minds. Aristotle set out to answer Plato's objections, arguing that fiction offers a faithful image of the truth and that it promotes emotional health through the mechanism of catharsis. Aristotle's definition of tragedy actually had its greatest impact not on Greek tragedy itself but on later Latin literature, beginning with the

Contents:

Contents; List of Abbreviations; Introduction: The Idea of Tragedy; 1. Theorizing Tragedy; A. Tragedy and Philosophy; B. Peerless Poet, Perfect Pictures; C. Squemysh Areopagites; 2. The Very Ends of Poesy; A. The Causes of Art; B. Seneca the Stoic Moralist; 1. Philosophy and the Theater; 2. Educating the Young; 3. Critical Spectatorship; 4. Allegory; C. Seneca the Aristocrat at Play; D. Seneca the Platonist; 1. Mad Poet; 2. Sublime Poet; 3. Inept Poet; 3. A Just and Lively Image; A. Imago Veritatis; B. Tragic Epistemology; 1. Phantasia; 2. Enargeia; 3. Phantasma

C. The Speaking Picture of Poesy4. The Soul of Tragedy; A. Poetry, Psychology, and Politics; 1. The Argument from the Poets; 2. Mirror for Magistrates; B. Catharsis; 1. Feelings without Assent; 2. Stoic Catharsis; 3. Purgation; 4. Moralistic Catharsis; C. The Plot of the Soul; 1. The Soul's Court of Judgment; 2. Tragedy and Trial; D. Epideictic Tragedy; 1. Impressionistic Spectators; 2. From Pleasure to Judgment; E. The Mirror of the Self; 5. Reading Monsters; A. Reading Vergil; 1. Juno and the Face of Anger; 2. Acheronta Movebo; 3. The Return of the Repressed?; B. Monstra as Metatheater

1. Tiresias2. Demonstratio; 3. Interpreting Signs; C. Theorizing the Grotesque; 1. The Visual; 2. The Body; 3. The Age; Conclusion: Stoic Tragedy; A. Tragic Villains; B. The Truest Tragedy; C. Images of Life, Images of Wit; D. Sound and Fury, Signifying; Notes; Bibliography; Index of Passages Cited; A; C; D; E; G; H; I; J; L; M; O; P; Q; R; S; T; V; Index of Topics; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; R; S; T; U; V; Z

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-045270-6

0-19-974207-3

1-282-34635-0

9786612346354

OCLC:

488631173