Comprehending tragedy has been a major philosophical and
critical preoccupation in Western thought. Whether concerned with
the generic problem of definition or with tragedy in the context of
specific writers or periods, books with multiple and often
conflicting perspectives abound. In an effort to bring order to the
explanations over two millennia, "Tragedy and Tragic Theory"
lucidly analyzes the principal ideas about tragedy from Plato to
the present.
Critically surveying the similarities and differences among
major theories, Palmer analyzes features associated with tragedy,
such as the tragic hero, katharsis, and self-recognition; develops
a working definition of tragedy; and applies these ideas to a
sampling of plays that present special interpretive problems. He
incorporates and explores the ideas of such eminent thinkers as
Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzche, Schopenhauer, Schiller, Kierkegaard,
and Freud, as well as contemporary theorists, who also appear with
biographical blurbs in an appendix to the volume along with an
extensive bibliography. By examining both tragedy and the
theoretical responses to tragedy, this study demonstrates that the
definition of tragedy depends on the meaning perceived by an
audience rather than on a structured stimulus independent of
response; yet, it does not abandon the possibility of isolating
fixed defining characteristics. The audience response approach
provides a framework for analyzing earlier theories. Systematically
developed, the study is equally valuable as a text in drama and
criticism or as a convenient reference tool to drama theory and
theorists.
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