After Dionysus : A Theory of the Tragic / William Storm.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Storm, William, author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

William Storm reinterprets the concept of the tragic as both a fundamental human condition and an aesthetic process in dramatic art. He proposes an original theoretical relation between a generative and consistent tragic ground and complex characterization patterns. For Storm, it is the dismemberment of character, not the death, that is the signature mark of tragic drama. Basing his theory in the sparagmos, the dismembering rite associated with Dionysus, Storm identifies a rending tendency that transcends the ancient Greek setting and can be recognized transhistorically. The dramatic character in any era who suffers the tragic fate must do so in the manner of the ancient god of theater: the depicted self is torn apart, figuratively if not literally, psychologically if not physically. Storm argues that a newly objectified concept of the tragic can prove more useful critically and diagnostically than the traditional and more subjective tragic "vision." Further, he develops a theory of the tragic field, a model for the connective and cumulative activity that brings about the distinctive Dionysian effect upon character. His theory is supported with case studies from Agamemnon and Iphigenia in Aulis, King Lear, and The Seagull. Storm's examination of the dramatic form of tragedy and the existential questions it raises is sensitive to both their universal relevance and their historical particularity.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Character of Dionysus

2. Tragedy, Tragic, Vision

3. On the Status of Vision

4. The Situation of the Tragic

5. The Tragic Field

4. The Case of Agamemnon

7. Invocations of the Tragic in King Lear

8. Tragic "Nonentity" in The Seagull

Afterword: The Face of the Tragic

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 25. Sep 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781501744877

1501744879

OCLC:

1121058196