Why did Greek tragedy and "the tragic" come to be seen as
essential to conceptions of modernity? And how has this belief
affected modern understandings of Greek drama? In "Genealogy of the
Tragic," Joshua Billings answers these and related questions by
tracing the emergence of the modern theory of the tragic, which was
first developed around 1800 by thinkers associated with German
Idealism. The book argues that the idea of the tragic arose in
response to a new consciousness of history in the late eighteenth
century, which spurred theorists to see Greek tragedy as both a
unique, historically remote form and a timeless literary genre full
of meaning for the present. The book offers a new interpretation of
the theories of Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Holderlin, and others,
as mediations between these historicizing and universalizing
impulses, and shows the roots of their approaches in earlier
discussions of Greek tragedy in Germany, France, and England. By
examining eighteenth-century readings of tragedy and the
interactions between idealist thinkers in detail, "Genealogy of the
Tragic" offers the most comprehensive historical account of the
tragic to date, as well as the fullest explanation of why and how
the idea was used to make sense of modernity. The book argues that
idealist theories remain fundamental to contemporary
interpretations of Greek tragedy, and calls for a renewed
engagement with philosophical questions in criticism of
tragedy."
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