CLGR 404(S) Tragedy
Tragedy was a hybrid genre invented in sixth-fifth century Athens, where tragic performances in the city's festival of the Greater Dionysia played a vital role in the democratic polis. This course will focus on reading in Greek a complete tragedy of Sophokles or Euripides; we will also read in translation several other tragedies, a satyr-play, and a comedy of Aristophanes. While focusing on questions of particular importance for the play we are reading in Greek, we will also situate that play in a larger context by exploring, for instance: aspects of the social and political situations in and for which tragedies were produced; the several performance genres out of which tragedy was created; developments in the physical characteristics of the theater and in elements of staging and performance; problems of representation particularly relevant to theatrical production and performance.
Format: recitation/discussion. Evaluation will be based on contributions to class, several 1- to 2-page papers involving close textual analysis, perhaps a midterm exam, a final exam, and a final paper.
Prerequisites: Greek 201 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 4-5).
Hour: HOPPIN