Between Philosophy and Tragedy: A Dialogue

 The aim of this course is to investigate the dialogue between tragic poetry and philosophy. Readings of selected works of Plato and Aristotle will serve as the central documents to decipher philosophical interpretations on the nature and truth of tragic poetic language. These interpretations about "poetry, language and truth" will provide the grid for close, analytic readings of a series of tragedies where the tragic plight of women– mothers and daughters, sisters, wives and lovers–bring into particularly vivid relief the very questions Plato and Aristotle debated. Here we will have the occasion to see how the tragic poets were in dialogue with each other, rewriting and revising representations of the ethical and emotional situations confronted by their tragic heroines. Finally, we will read modern adaptations of Greek tragedies with a keen eye towards understanding how they are in conversation with the original plays.