- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Bristol Classical Press; 1 edition (Nov 1 2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0715637142
- ISBN-13: 978-0715637142
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,609,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Orestes was one of Euripides' most popular plays in antiquity. Its plot, which centres on Orestes' murder of his mother Clytemnestra and its aftermath, is exciting as well as morally complex; its presentation of madness is unusually intense and disturbing; it deals with politics in a way which has resonances for both ancient and modern democracies; and it has a brilliantly unexpected and ironic ending.
Nevertheless, Orestes is not much read or performed in modern times. Why should this be so? It cannot be because of the subject-matter: after all, the myth of the House of Atreus is the basis for other, more widely admired, tragedies. It is due more to the fact that, in various ways, Orestes does not conform to modern audiences' expectations of what a 'Greek tragedy' should be.
This book makes Orestes accessible to modern readers and performers by explicitly acknowledging the gap between ancient and modern ideas of tragedy. If we are to appreciate what is unusual about the play, we have to think in terms of its impact on its original audience. What did they expect from a tragedy, and what would they have made of Orestes?
Nevertheless, Orestes is not much read or performed in modern times. Why should this be so? It cannot be because of the subject-matter: after all, the myth of the House of Atreus is the basis for other, more widely admired, tragedies. It is due more to the fact that, in various ways, Orestes does not conform to modern audiences' expectations of what a 'Greek tragedy' should be.
This book makes Orestes accessible to modern readers and performers by explicitly acknowledging the gap between ancient and modern ideas of tragedy. If we are to appreciate what is unusual about the play, we have to think in terms of its impact on its original audience. What did they expect from a tragedy, and what would they have made of Orestes?
About the Author
MATTHEW WRIGHT is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Exeter. He is the author of Euripides' Escape-Tragedies (2005) and a number of articles and reviews on Greek literature.
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