A companion to Greek tragedy / by John Ferguson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ferguson, John, 1921-1989, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greek drama (Tragedy)--History and criticism.

Greek drama (Tragedy).

Greek drama (Satyr play)--History and criticism.

Greek drama (Satyr play).

Mythology, Greek, in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (636 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 1972.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

I BACKGROUND

1. ORIGINS

2. THE AUDIENCE AND THE THEATER

II THE TRAGEDIES OF AESCHYLUS

3. AESCHYLUS

4. THE MEN OF PERSIA

5. SEVEN AGAINST THEBES

6. THE SUPPLIANT WOMEN

7. AGAMEMNON

8. THE LIBATION BEARERS

9. THE KINDLY GODDESSES

10. PROMETHEUS BOUND

III THE TRAGEDIES OF SOPHOCLES

11. SOPHOCLES

12. AJAX

13. THE WOMEN OF TRACHIS

14. ANTIGONE

15. KING OEDIPUS

16. PHILOCTETES

17. OEDIPUS AT COLONUS

IV THE TRAGEDIES OF EURIPIDES

18. EURIPIDES

19. MEDEA

20. HERACLES'S CHILDREN

21. HIPPOLYTUS

22. HECABE

23. THE SUPPLIANT WOMEN

24. ANDROMACHE

25. THE WOMEN OF TROY

26. ION

27. HERACLES

28. ELECTRA

29. IPHIGENEIA AMONG THE TAURIANS

30. HELEN

31. THE WOMEN OF PHOENICIA

32. IPHIGENEIA AT AULIS

33. THE BACCHANTS

V AN ANONYMOUS TRAGEDY

34. RHESUS

VI SATYRIC AND PRO-SATYRIC PLAYS

35. THE SATYR PLAY

36. SOPHOCLES: THE TRACKERS

37. EURIPIDES: ALCESTIS

38. EURIPIDES: THE CYCLOPS

39. SOPHOCLES: ELECTRA

40. EURIPIDES: ORESTES

GREEK VOCABULARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-292-75969-X

OCLC:

1269268483