A01=James Barrett
achilles
aeschylus
ancient greece
ancient world
arete
athenian tragedy
Author_James Barrett
bacchae
Category=DSBB
Category=DSG
classicism
drama
electra
epic
epistemology
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
euripides
genre study
gods and goddesses
greek tragedy
hellenism
homer
homeric epic
hubris
human knowledge
literary ancestry
literary criticism
literature
messenger
mythology
narrative poetics
narrative theory
nonfiction
oedipus
oedipus rex
oedipus tyrannus
performing arts
persians
poetry
rhesos
rhetoric
rhetorical analysis
sophocles
theater
tragedy
tragic messenger
Product details
- ISBN 9780520231801
- Weight: 499g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 13 Aug 2002
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The messenger who reports important action that has occurred offstage is a familiar inhabitant of Greek tragedy. A messenger informs us about the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, the slaughter of Aigisthos, and the death of Hippolytus, among other important events. Despite its prevalence, this conventional figure remains only little understood. Combining several critical approaches--narrative theory, genre study, and rhetorical analysis--this lucid study develops a synthetic view of the messenger of Greek tragedy, showing how this role illuminates some of the genre's most persistent concerns, especially those relating to language, knowledge, and the workings of tragic theater itself. James Barrett gives close readings of several plays including Aeschylus's Persians, Sophocles' Electra and Oedipus Tyrannus, and Euripides' Bacchae and Rhesos. He traces the literary ancestry of the tragic messenger, showing that the messenger's narrative constitutes an unexplored site of engagement with Homeric epic, and that the role illuminates fifth-century b.c. experimentation with modes of speech.
Breaking new ground in the study of Athenian tragedy, Barrett deepens our understanding of many central texts and of a form of theater that highlights the fragility and limits of human knowledge, a theme explored by its use of the messenger.
James Barrett is Research Associate and Faculty Fellow in Classics at Colby College.
