Tragic Failures: Alexandrian Responses to Tragedy and the Tragic (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes) (Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes, 38)

This is the first study considering the reception of Greek tragedy and the transformation of the tragic idea in Hellenistic poetry. The focus is on third-century Alexandria, where the Ptolemies fostered tragedy as a theatrical form for public entertainment and as an official genre cultivated by the Pleiad, whereas the scholars of the Museum were commissioned to edit and comment on the classical tragic texts. More importantly, the notion of the tragic was adapted to the literary trends of the era. Released from the strict rules established by Aristotle about what makes a good tragedy, the major poets of the Alexandrian avant-garde struggled to transform the tragic idea and integrate it into non-dramatic genres. __Tragic Failures__ traces the incorporation of the tragic idea in the poetry of Callimachus and Theocritus, in Apollonius’ epic __Argonautica__, in the iambic __Alexandra__, in late Hellenistic poetry and in Parthenius’ __Erotika Pathemata__. It offers a fascinating insight into the new conception of the tragic dilemmas in the context of Alexandrian aesthetics.

This is the first study considering the reception of Greek tragedy and the transformation of the tragic idea in Hellenistic poetry. The focus is on third-century Alexandria, where the Ptolemies fostered tragedy as a theatrical form for public entertainment and as an official genre cultivated by the Pleiad, whereas the scholars of the Museum were commissioned to edit and comment on the classical tragic texts. More importantly, the notion of the tragic was adapted to the literary trends of the era. Released from the strict rules established by Aristotle about what makes a good tragedy, the major poets of the Alexandrian avant-garde struggled to transform the tragic idea and integrate it into non-dramatic genres. Tragic Failures traces the incorporation of the tragic idea in the poetry of Callimachus and Theocritus, in Apollonius’ epic Argonautica, in the iambic Alexandra, in late Hellenistic poetry and in Parthenius’ Erotika Pathemata. It offers a fascinating insight into the new conception of the tragic dilemmas in the context of Alexandrian aesthetics.

This study focuses on the reception of tragedy and the tragic in Hellenistic poetry. It illustrates how classical tragedy and the tragic idea were incorporated in the poems of Callimachus and Theocritus, Apollonius 'Argonautica', the iambic 'Alexandra' and late Hellenistic poetry. It demonstrates that the tragic was not doomed to failure in the postclassical world but lived on through the works of the great Alexandrian poets and their followers Tragedy, From Athens To Alexandria -- The Metaclassical Tragic -- Alexandrian Tragedy -- Callimachus Displaces The Tragic -- Redefining The Tragic In The Idylls Of Theocritus -- Tragedy Into Epic In Apollonius' Argonautica -- In The Metatragic Cosmos Of The Alexandra -- The Romantic Tragic -- Conclusions: Tragic Failures And Hellenistic Challenges. Evina Sistakou. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A study that focuses on the reception of tragedy and the tragic in Hellenistic poetry. It illustrates how classical tragedy and the tragic idea were incorporated in the poems of Callimachus and Theocritus, Apollonius' Argonautica, the iambic Alexandra and late Hellenistic poetry.