Crossroads in the Black Aegean
Oedipus, Antigone, and Dramas of the African Diaspora
ISBN13: 9780199217182ISBN10: 0199217181
Hardback,
420 pages
Dec 2007,
In Stock
Price:
$150.00 (06)See more from the series
Description
Crossroads in the Black Aegean is a compendious, timely, and fascinating study of African rewritings of Greek tragedy. It consists of detailed readings of six dramas and one epic poem, from different locations across the African diaspora. Barbara Goff and Michael Simpson ask why the plays of Sophocles' Theban Cycle figure so prominently among the tragedies adapted by dramatists of African descent, and how plays that dilate on the power of the past, in the inexorable curse of Oedipus and the regressive obsession of Antigone, can articulate the postcolonial moment. Capitalizing on classical reception studies, postcolonial studies, and comparative literature, Crossroads in the Black Aegean co-ordinates theory and theatre. It crucially investigates how the plays engage with the 'Western canon', and shows how they use their self-consciously literary status to assert, ironize, and challenge their own place, in relation both to that tradition and to alternative African models of cultural transmission.Product Details
420 pages; 5 in-text illus.; 5 1/2 X 8 1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-921718-2ISBN10: 0-19-921718-1About the Author(s)
Barbara Goff is Professor of Classics, Department of Classics, University of Reading.
Michael Simpson is Senior Lecturer, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Goldsmiths, University of London.
