The subject of tragedy is at once intimidating and well-worn. All credit then to the editors for having commissioned a varied collection of essays that breaks fresh ground and makes unexpected connections. Contributors are not afraid to ask large questions, for example about the transcultural appeal of tragedy or its compatibility with the postmodern condition. There is an emphasis on enriching intertextualities and reception histories; on the light that different tragic traditions with their continuities and dissonances can cast on one another. The volume as a whole suggests some future directions our conversations about tragedy might profitably take.

Tragedy in Transition is an innovative and exciting volume that explores the theory and practice of tragedy from the Greek tragedians to the present day, tracing important developments, continuities,and discontinuities in the tragic tradition and exploring the afterlives of some of the most resonant tragic narratives. Central questions - the role of the gods, for example - are examined in unexpected ways, and less traditional topics -including childhood and science fiction - allow new questions to be opened up. The volume as a whole employs a range of theoretical and critical approaches to press the boundaries of tragedy,encouraging the reader to interrogate the parameters and significance of the genre.

An ideal resource for students, this accessible anthology offers an up-to-date and lively critique of a wide range of topics in the field.

Notes on Contributors

Preface

Introduction: Tragedy in Transition

Sarah Annes Brown

1 Trojan Suffering, Tragic Gods, and Transhistorical Metaphysics

 Edith Hall

2 Hardcore Tragedy

 Ewan Fernie

3 Tragedy and Disgust

 Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

4 Tragedy and the Sign of the Eclipse

 Anne C. Henry

5 Jonson's Too Roman Plays: From Julius Caesar to Sejanus and Catiline

 John Henderson

6 Neoclassicisms

 Raphael Lyne

7 Tragedy and Exile

 Jennifer Wallace

8 Narratives of Tragic Empathy: Prometheus Bound and Frankenstein

 Vanda Zajko

9 Tragedy and Childhood

 Peter Hollindale

10 Parricide versus Filicide: Oedipus and Medea on the Modern Stage

 Fiona Macintosh

11 "Suffering into Wisdom": The Tragedy of Wilde

 Alison Hennegan

12 Tarzan of Athens, Dionysus in Africa: Wilson Knight and

 Wole Soyinka

 Nell Rhodes

13 Postmodern Tragedy? Returning to John Ford

 Mark Houlahan

14 Tragedy and the Future

 Rowland Wymer

Afterword: Ending Tragedy

Catherine Silverstone

Bibliography

Index