Tragic Rhetoric (Hermeneutic Commentaries) - Hardcover

Heiden, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820409510 ISBN 13: 9780820409511

Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing, 1989

Synopsis

This innovative study of Sophocles' Trachiniae deepens our appreciation of the enigmatic nature of Sophoclean tragedy and its place in the Athens of the Sophists. By carefully examining the play's narrative and rhetorical strategies, Bruce Heiden shows that the plot of Trachiniae must be constructed by the creative interpretation of the spectator or reader, and he demonstrates that Sophocles' extensive use of speeches reporting offstage events dramatizes the very problems that arise when rhetorical claims of knowledge conceal acts of interpretation. Tragic Rhetoric will interest both classicists and students of literary theory.

About this title

Review

«The book is a valuable and perceptive commentary, marked by an imaginative use of modern critical theory.» (David Konstan, Brown University)
«Heiden's book represents a wholly fresh approach to this difficult play.» (Gregory W. Dickerson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review)
«(T)here is much in this book which is thought-provoking. It is well-produced and printed..., and has a comprehensive bibliography and an index.» (J.M. Mossman, The Classical Review)

Edition details

• Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820409510
• ISBN 13: 9780820409511
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216