232079 Stage of Doom: The Tragic Vision from Old World (Drama) (S) (SoSe 2011)

“Why is it that man desires to be made sad, beholding doleful and tragical doings, which yet himself would by no means suffer? Yet he desires as a spectator to feel sorrow at them and this very sorry is pleasure. What is this but a miserable madness?” - St. Augustine.

Perhaps no literary genre has excited so much thought and attention as tragedy. The great tragic figures of the stage, such as Macbeth and Oedipus, have enthralled audiences for centuries and inspired such great philosophers as Aristotle, Hegel, and Nietzsche. For many, dramatic tragedy is the highest achievement of literature and yet, despite its prestige, many scholars feel it is no longer possible to write tragedy in the modern age.
In this course, we will look at the appeal of tragedy and study some of the great classical plays before looking at modern tragic drama in America. What is the tragic vision? Why are we drawn to stories of suffering and horror? How has the nature of tragedy changed over time? Why do some thinkers contend that it is no longer possible to write tragedy? These are some of the questions we will look at in this course as we look at the progress of tragedy from old world to new.