The Art of Euripides: Dramatic Technique and Social Context - Hardcover

Mastronarde, Donald J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052176839X ISBN 13: 9780521768399

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

In this book Professor Mastronarde draws on the seventeen surviving tragedies of Euripides, as well as the fragmentary remains of his lost plays, to explore key topics in the interpretation of the plays. It investigates their relation to the Greek poetic tradition and to the social and political structures of their original setting, aiming both to be attentive to the great variety of the corpus and to identify commonalities across it. In examining such topics as genre, structural strategies, the chorus, the gods, rhetoric, and the portrayal of women and men, this study highlights the ways in which audience responses are manipulated through the use of plot structures and the multiplicity of viewpoints expressed. It argues that the dramas of Euripides, through their dramatic technique, pose a strong challenge to simple formulations of norms, to the reading of consistent human character, and to the quest for certainty and closure.

About this title

Review:

'... for a scholar of ancient drama, this is a valuable study. It aggregates different strands of research tradition and handles them as a whole, but the main attention remains focussed on Euripides' dramatic texts.' De novis libris iudicia

Book Description:

This book explores key topics in the interpretation of the tragedies of the fifth-century BCE Athenian poet Euripides. Taking account of the Greek poetic tradition and of the social and political structures of the poet's world, it demonstrates the great variety and creativity of the plays.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 052176839X
• ISBN 13: 9780521768399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 376