Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht
Taking into account the intertwining of the theory of tragedy on the one hand and theatrical work on ancient tragic texts on the other, the paper explores the way in which tragedy poses the question of history. This is especially the case in conceptions of tragedy as an interruption in a continuum....
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Performance Philosophy
2017-01-01
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doaj-bdcad44aaee84caf80fd4818124ea3512020-11-24T23:04:16ZengPerformance PhilosophyPerformance Philosophy2057-71762017-01-012224125610.21476/PP.2017.2210757Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after BrechtMatthias Dreyer0Goethe-University Frankfurt Institut for Theatre, Film and Media StudiesTaking into account the intertwining of the theory of tragedy on the one hand and theatrical work on ancient tragic texts on the other, the paper explores the way in which tragedy poses the question of history. This is especially the case in conceptions of tragedy as an interruption in a continuum. Hölderlin’s idea of caesura, its reflection in Benjamin’s understanding of tragedy as a revision of myth are in the center of a critical dramaturgy of this kind. By analysing Brecht’s work on Antigone as well as the stagings of critical theatre makers that came after Brecht (Einar Schleef, Dimiter Gotscheff), the paper shows the consequences of the concept ‘tragedy as caesura‘ on the level of the aesthetics of the theatre, unclosing in a radical way the temporality of the tragic process. From this point of view, tragedy is understood as a site of encounter with the persisting powers of the past; as reflexive rupture in the transition between times, that undermines the established order, but without, however, arriving at a new one. Although in the history of theatre and thought tragedy has been too often associated with the universal and timeless, how is it possible to think of historicity in a way negating submission under the universal without losing the genre of tragedy itself?https://www.performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/107theory of temporalitytheory of tragedycritical theory |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Matthias Dreyer |
spellingShingle |
Matthias Dreyer Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht Performance Philosophy theory of temporality theory of tragedy critical theory |
author_facet |
Matthias Dreyer |
author_sort |
Matthias Dreyer |
title |
Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht |
title_short |
Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht |
title_full |
Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht |
title_fullStr |
Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht |
title_full_unstemmed |
Caesura of History: Performing Greek Tragedy after Brecht |
title_sort |
caesura of history: performing greek tragedy after brecht |
publisher |
Performance Philosophy |
series |
Performance Philosophy |
issn |
2057-7176 |
publishDate |
2017-01-01 |
description |
Taking into account the intertwining of the theory of tragedy on the one hand and theatrical work on ancient tragic texts on the other, the paper explores the way in which tragedy poses the question of history. This is especially the case in conceptions of tragedy as an interruption in a continuum. Hölderlin’s idea of caesura, its reflection in Benjamin’s understanding of tragedy as a revision of myth are in the center of a critical dramaturgy of this kind. By analysing Brecht’s work on Antigone as well as the stagings of critical theatre makers that came after Brecht (Einar Schleef, Dimiter Gotscheff), the paper shows the consequences of the concept ‘tragedy as caesura‘ on the level of the aesthetics of the theatre, unclosing in a radical way the temporality of the tragic process. From this point of view, tragedy is understood as a site of encounter with the persisting powers of the past; as reflexive rupture in the transition between times, that undermines the established order, but without, however, arriving at a new one. Although in the history of theatre and thought tragedy has been too often associated with the universal and timeless, how is it possible to think of historicity in a way negating submission under the universal without losing the genre of tragedy itself? |
topic |
theory of temporality theory of tragedy critical theory |
url |
https://www.performancephilosophy.org/journal/article/view/107 |
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AT matthiasdreyer caesuraofhistoryperforminggreektragedyafterbrecht |
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