Course Details

For millennia, Aristotle’s definition of Tragedy as preserved in his treatise Poetics influenced theoreticians and literary artists. In this course, we will reexamine this definition as part of his broader theory of mimetic art and his scientific approach to literature. Thereafter we will read plays, Classical and post-Classical, applying this definition as a way of critiquing it and perhaps coming to our own understanding of what “The Tragic” is not only on the stage but in life. The final project will involve the creation of a real or hypothetical dramatic project in which students incorporate their own reactions to Aristotle’s definition; that is, students will describe the “tragedy” that they would write in the wake of our readings and discussions. It is not necessary to write a play, but rather a description of the one that they might imagine producing.