Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus (Mnemosyne, Supplements) (English and Ancient Greek Edition)

Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus offers a new approach to the tragic chorus by examining how certain choruses ‘act’ on their shared feelings. Eirene Visvardi redefines choral action, analyzes choruses that enact fear and pity, and juxtaposes them to the Athenian dêmos in Thucydides’ History. Considered together, these texts undermine the sharp divide between emotion and reason and address a preoccupation that emerges as central in Athenian life: how to channel the motivational power of collective emotion into judicious action and render it conducive to cohesion and collective prosperity. Through their performance of emotion, tragic choruses raise the question of which collective voices deserve a hearing in the institutions of the polis and suggest diverse ways to envision passionate judgment and action. Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus 4 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 1 Choral Emotions and Collective Passions: Questions and Approaches, Old and New 12 1 Introduction 12 2 Preliminaries: Assumptions and Questions 13 3 Aristotle and the (Tragic) Emotions: Uses and Limitations 17 4 Collectively Dancing the Emotions 30 4.1 The Tragic Chorus 30 4.2 Rethinking Choral Action(s) 41 4.3 On Methodology 43 5 Collective Emotion Outside the Theater: Thucydides’ History 45 6 Civilizing the Passions? Theorizing Emotion in Action 48 2 Contextualizing Choral Emotions: Thucydides and Collective Psychology 55 1 Preliminaries: ‘Feeling Together’ in Thucydides 55 2 Collective Emotion within the City-State 60 2.1 Ideal Emotion in Athenian Democracy: The Citizen-Lover 60 2.2 Unideal Emotions within the State: The Plague 63 2.3 Pericles and the Emotions of the Dêmos: Phobos, Orgê, and Gnômê 67 2.4 The Emotions of Stasis: The Oligarchic Coup in Athens 73 2.5 The Quintessential Emotions of Stasis: Corcyra 75 2.6 Reason, Passion, and Human Nature 79 3 Collective Emotion and Interstate Relations 83 3.1 The Case of Mytilene 84 3.2 The Sicilian Expedition 95 4 Closing Thoughts: Collective Emotion—Potential and Shortcomings 102 3 Emotion in Aeschylus’ Active Choruses 105 1 Defining Active Choruses 105 2 Aeschylus, Eumenides 109 3 Aeschylus, Supplices 131 4 Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 158 4 Enacting Choral Emotion: Sophocles and Euripides 190 1 Defining Enactment 190 2 Sophocles, Philoctetes 191 3 Euripides, Bacchae 224 Coda: The Value(s) of Collective Emotion in Action 250 Bibliography 260 Index of Subjects 280 Index of Sources 292 Emotion in action: Thycydides and the tragic chorus' offers a new approach to the tragic chorus by examining how certain choruses 'act' on their shared feelings. Eirene Visvardi redefines choral action, analyzes choruses that enact fear and pity, and juxtaposes them to the Athenian dêmos in Thucydides' History. Considered together, these texts undermine the sharp divide between emotion and reason and address a preoccupation that emerges as central in Athenian life: how to channel the motivational power of collective emotion into judicious action and render it conducive to cohesion and collective prosperity. Through their performance of emotion, tragic choruses raise the question of which collective voices deserve a hearing in the institutions of the polis and suggest diverse ways to envision passionate judgment and action Emotion In Action Offers A New Approach To The Tragic Chorus By Focusing On The Performance Of Collective Emotion. Eirene Visvardi Redefines Choral Action, Analyzes Choruses That Enact Fear And Pity, And Juxtaposes Them To The Athenian Dêmos In Thucydides.