1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996331939803316

Autore

Sistakou Evina

Titolo

Tragic failures : Alexandrian responses to tragedy and the tragic / / Evina Sistakou

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berlin, [Germany] ; ; Boston, Massachusetts : , : De Gruyter, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

3-11-048063-8

3-11-048232-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (262 p.)

Collana

Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes, , 1868-4785 ; ; Volume 38

Disciplina

881.0109

Soggetti

Greek poetry, Hellenistic - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: From Tragedy to the Tragic -- 1. Tragedy, from Athens to Alexandria -- 2. The Metaclassical Tragic -- 3. Alexandrian Tragedy -- 4. Callimachus Displaces the Tragic -- 5. Redefining the Tragic in the Idylls of Theocritus -- 6. Tragedy into Epic in Apollonius’ Argonautica -- 7. In the Metatragic Cosmos of the Alexandra -- 8. The Romantic Tragic -- Conclusion: Tragic Failures and Hellenistic Challenges -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This is the first study considering the reception of Greek tragedy and the transformation of the tragic idea in Hellenistic poetry. The focus is on third-century Alexandria, where the Ptolemies fostered tragedy as a theatrical form for public entertainment and as an official genre cultivated by the Pleiad, whereas the scholars of the Museum were commissioned to edit and comment on the classical tragic texts. More importantly, the notion of the tragic was adapted to the literary trends of the era. Released from the strict rules established by Aristotle about what makes a good tragedy, the major poets of the Alexandrian avant-garde struggled to transform the tragic idea and integrate it into non-dramatic genres. Tragic Failures traces the incorporation of the tragic idea in the poetry of Callimachus and Theocritus, in Apollonius’ epic Argonautica, in the iambic Alexandra, in late Hellenistic poetry and in



Parthenius’ Erotika Pathemata. It offers a fascinating insight into the new conception of the tragic dilemmas in the context of Alexandrian aesthetics.