The Passions in Play: Thyestes and the Dynamics of Senecan Drama

by Alessandro Schiesaro

Overview

This book subjects the most accomplished and important of Seneca's tragedies Thyestes to the kind of critical analysis now available for authors such as Virgil, Ovid and Lucan. Drawing many insights from psychoanalytic theory, and recent advances in post-Virgilian literary criticism, it also discusses several other plays of Seneca. The volume presents, therefore, a detailed and comprehensive analysis of all the main themes and stylistic features of Seneca's tragedies. While stressing the importance of Thyestes in post-Classical aesthetics, the study offers important insights into authors such as Ovid and Lucan as well.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521037655
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/12/2007
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Alessandro Schiesaro is Professor of Latin Language and Literature at King's College London. He has co-edited, with Thomas Habinek, The Roman Cultural Revolution (1997; ISBN 0521 580927).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Note on translations; Introduction; 1. Poetry, passions and knowledge; 2. Staging Thyestes; 3. A craftier Tereus; 4. Atreus rex; 5. Fata se vertunt retro; 6. The poetics of passions; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index of passages cited; General index.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a richly rewarding book with much to say about one of the world's great tragic dramas." New England Classical Journal

From the Publisher