Objects as Actors

Props and the Poetics of Performance in Greek Tragedy

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Performing Arts, Theatre, History & Criticism, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Ancient & Classical
Cover of the book Objects as Actors by Melissa Mueller, University of Chicago Press
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Author: Melissa Mueller ISBN: 9780226313009
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: January 13, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Melissa Mueller
ISBN: 9780226313009
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: January 13, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Objects as Actors charts a new approach to Greek tragedy based on an obvious, yet often overlooked, fact: Greek tragedy was meant to be performed. As plays, the works were incomplete without physical items—theatrical props. In this book, Melissa Mueller ingeniously demonstrates the importance of objects in the staging and reception of Athenian tragedy.

As Mueller shows, props such as weapons, textiles, and even letters were often fully integrated into a play’s action. They could provoke surprising plot turns, elicit bold viewer reactions, and provide some of tragedy’s most thrilling moments. Whether the sword of Sophocles’s Ajax, the tapestry in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, or the tablet of Euripides’s Hippolytus, props demanded attention as a means of uniting—or disrupting—time, space, and genre.

Insightful and original, Objects as Actors offers a fresh perspective on the central tragic texts—and encourages us to rethink ancient theater as a whole.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Objects as Actors charts a new approach to Greek tragedy based on an obvious, yet often overlooked, fact: Greek tragedy was meant to be performed. As plays, the works were incomplete without physical items—theatrical props. In this book, Melissa Mueller ingeniously demonstrates the importance of objects in the staging and reception of Athenian tragedy.

As Mueller shows, props such as weapons, textiles, and even letters were often fully integrated into a play’s action. They could provoke surprising plot turns, elicit bold viewer reactions, and provide some of tragedy’s most thrilling moments. Whether the sword of Sophocles’s Ajax, the tapestry in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, or the tablet of Euripides’s Hippolytus, props demanded attention as a means of uniting—or disrupting—time, space, and genre.

Insightful and original, Objects as Actors offers a fresh perspective on the central tragic texts—and encourages us to rethink ancient theater as a whole.

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