Metapoetry in Euripides

by Torrance, Isabelle

• ISBN13: 9780199657834
• ISBN10: 0199657831
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-04-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Metapoetry in Euripides is the first detailed study of the self-conscious literary devices applied within Euripidean drama and how these are interwoven with issues of thematic importance, whether social, theological, or political. In the volume, Torrance argues that Euripides employed a complex system of metapoetic strategies in order to draw the audience's attention to the novelty of his compositions. Torrance also looks at and compares metapoetictechniques used in tragedy, satyr-drama, and old comedy to demonstrate that the Greek tragedians commonly exploited metapoetic strategies, and that metapoetry is more pervasive in Euripides than in the other tragedians. While Euripides shares some metapoetic techniques with old comedy, these remain implicit in histragedies (but not in his satyr-dramas).

Author Biography

Isabelle Torrance is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Notre Dame. She has published Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes (2007) and several articles on Greek tragedy and its reception.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Euripides and the Oresteia
2. Intertextual Ekphrasis
3. Writing and Self-Conscious Mythopoiesis
4. The Trojan War
5. Tragedy, Comedy, and Euripides
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index