The Cambridge Introduction to Tragedy

Tragedy is the artform created to confront the most difficult experiences weface death loss injustice thwarted passion despair. From ancient Greektheatre up to ... » 

Tragedy is the artform created to confront the most difficult experiences weface death loss injustice thwarted passion despair. From ancient Greektheatre up to the most recent plays playwrights have found in tragic drama ameans to seek explanation for disaster. But tragedy is also a word wecontinually encounter in the media to denote an event which is simplydevastating in its emotional power. This introduction explores the relationshipbetween tragic experience and tragic representation. After giving an overviewof the tragic theatre canon including chapters on the Greeks ShakespeareIbsen Chekhov postcolonial drama and Beckett it also looks at thecontribution which philosophers have brought to this subject before rangingacross other artforms and areas of debate. The book is unique in itschronological range and brings a wide spectrum of examples from bothliterature and life into the discussion of this emotional and frequentlycontroversial subject. «