A Cultural History of Tragedy in the Modern Age 6

In this book leading scholars come together to provide a comprehensive, wide-ranging overview of tragedy in theatre and other media from 1920 to the present. The 20th century is often considered to have witnessed the death of tragedy as a theatrical genre, but it was marked by many tragic events and historical catastrophes, from two world wars and genocide to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the anticipation and onset of climate change. The authors in this volume wrestle with this paradox and consider the degree to which the definitions, forms and media of tragedy were transformed in the modern period and how far the tragic tradition ― updated in performance ― still spoke to 20th- and 21st-century challenges. While theater remains the primary focus of investigation in this strikingly illustrated book, the essays also cover tragic representation―often re-mediated, fragmented and provocatively questioned―in film, art and installation, photography, fiction and creative non-fiction, documentary reporting, political theory and activism. Since 24/7 news cycles travel fast and modern crises cross borders and are reported across the globe more swiftly than in previous centuries, this volume includes intercultural encounters, various forms of hybridity, and postcolonial tragic representations. Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: forms and media; sites of performance and circulation; communities of production and consumption; philosophy and social theory; religion, ritual and myth; politics of city and nation; society and family, and gender and sexuality. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vi NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ix SERIES PREFACE x EDITOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xii Introduction: Tragedy Since 1920 / Jennifer Wallace 1 1. Forms and Media: Fragmented, Torn, Multiplied / Ramona Mosse 23 2. Sites of Performance and Circulation: The Ecology of Modern Tragedy / Drew Milne 41 3. Communities of Production and Consumption: Modernism and the Rebirth of Tragedy / Olga Taxidou 57 4. Philosophy and Social Theory / David Kornhaber 75 5. Religion, Ritual and Myth / Ben Quash 93 6. Politics of City and Nation: Tragic Politics and the Incommunicable Experience / Tony Fisher 109 7. Society and Family: Vibrant Affiliations / Kélina Gotman 127 8. Gender and Sexuality: Watching as Praxis / P. A. Skantze 145 NOTES 161 BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 INDEX 207 How Have Ideas Of The Tragic Influenced Western Culture? How Has Tragedy Been Shaped By Its Social And Cultural Conditions? In A Work That Spans 2,500 Years, These Ambitious Questions Are Addressed By 55 Experts, Each Contributing Their Overview Of A Theme Applied To A Period In History. Extending Far Beyond The Established Aesthetic Tradition, The Volumes Describe The Forms Tragedy Takes To Represent Human Conflict And Suffering, And How It Engages With Matters Of Philosophy, Society, Politics, Religion And Gender. Volume 6 Covers The Period 1920- The Present.