Epic Performances from the Middle Ages into the Twenty-First Century (Hardcover)

Greek and Roman epic poetry has always provided creative artists in the modern world with a rich storehouse of themes. Tim Supple and Simon Reade's 1999 stage adaptation of Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid for the RSC heralded a new lease of life for receptions of the genre, and it now routinely provides raw material for the performance repertoire of both major cultural institutions and emergent, experimental theatre companies. This volume represents the first systematic attempt to chart the afterlife of epic in modern performance traditions, with chapters covering not only a significant chronological span, but also ranging widely across both place and genre, analysing lyric, film, dance, and opera from Europe to Asia and the Americas. What emerges most clearly is how anxieties about the ability to write epic in the early modern world, together with the ancient precedent of Greek tragedy's reworking of epic material, explain its migration to the theatre. This move, though, was not without problems, as epic encountered the barriers imposed by neo-classicists, who sought to restrict serious theatre to a narrowly defined reality that precluded its broad sweeps across time and place. In many instances in recent years, the fact that the Homeric epics were composed orally has rendered reinvention not only legitimate, but also deeply appropriate, opening up a range of forms and traditions within which epic themes and structures may be explored. Drawing on the expertise of specialists from the fields of classical studies, English and comparative literature, modern languages, music, dance, and theatre and performance studies, as well as from practitioners within the creative industries, the volume is able to offer an unprecedented modern and dynamic study of 'epic' content and form across myriad diverse performance arenas.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	November 2018
Editors:	Fiona Macintosh (Professor of Classical Reception, Director of the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD), and Fellow of St Hilda's College) • Justine McConnell (Lecturer in Comparative Literature) • Stephen Harrison (Professor of Latin Literature and Fellow and Tutor in Classics, Corpus Christi College) • Claire Kenward (Archivist and Researcher, Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD))
Dimensions:	238 x 164 x 42mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	672
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-880421-5
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Theatre, drama > General Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Films, cinema > General Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > Classical, early & medieval Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 16th to 18th centuries Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > 19th century Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Literary studies > From 1900 Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Poetry & poets > General Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Plays & playwrights > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history
LSN:	0-19-880421-0
Barcode:	9780198804215

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