Looking at Bacchae

Bacchae is one of the most troubling yet intriguing of Greek tragedies. Written during Euripides' self-imposed exile in Macedonia, it tells of the brutal murder and dismemberment of Pentheus by his mother and aunts who, driven temporarily insane, have joined the Bacchae (devotees of the god Dionysus, or Bacchus). The startling plot, driven by Dionysus' desire to punish his family for refusing to accept his divinity, and culminating in the excruciating pathos of a mother's realization that she has killed her son, has held audiences transfixed since its original performance (when it won first prize). It is one of the most performed and studied plays in the Greek tragic corpus, with a strong history of reception down to the present day.

This collection of essays by eminent academics gathered from across the globe explores the themes, staging and reception of the play, with essays on the characters Dionysus and Pentheus, the role of the chorus of Bacchae, key themes such as revenge, women and religion, and the historical and literary contexts of the play. The essays are accompanied by David Stuttard's English translation which is performer-friendly, accessible and closely accurate to the original.

Acknowledgements
List of contributors
Introduction (David Stuttard)
1. Dionysus (Richard Seaford, University of Exeter, UK)
2. Up the Garden Path: Bacchae and Earlier Tragedy (Alan H. Sommerstein, University of Nottingham, UK)
3. Reflections on Euripides' Bacchae in its Original Performance Context (Edith Hall, King's College London, UK)
4. Family Reunion or Household Disaster? Plot-Diversity in Euripides' Last Production (Ioanna Karamanou, University of the Peloponnese, Greece)
5. Pentheus and Dionysus (Sophie Mills, University of North Carolina, USA)
6. The Bacchae in the Bacchae (Chris Carey, University College London,UK)
7. Staging Bacchae (Rosie Wyles, University of Kent, UK)
8. The Paradox of Bacchae (Alex Garvie, University of Glasgow, UK)
9. Revenge in Bacchae (Hanna Roisman, Colby College, USA)
10. Horrid Laughter in the Bacchae (James Morwood, University of Oxford, UK)
11. New Religion and Old in Bacchae (David Kovacs, University of Virginia, USA)
12. Bacchae in the Modern World (Betine van Zyl Smit, University of Nottingham, UK)
Euripides' Bacchae, translated by David Stuttard
Bibliography
Index

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.