Looking at Bacchae

by David Stuttard (Editor)

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.

248 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2016

About the author

David Stuttard is a British theatre director, classical scholar, translator, lecturer on classical literature and history, and author, primarily of historical works on the ancient world.

Reviews

[Galina Krasskova · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this. I've never been so boggled by how scholars can take a play as rich and compelling as "Bacchae" and strip it of any of its power. Personally I tend to blame it on lit crit meeting classics -- a particularly unfortunate marriage. In the ancient world, I believe the ultimate criterion for dramatic criticism was "what has this to do with Dionysos?" The answer with this book: not much.

This is a play full of powerful religious themes, and yet these scholars have purged all of that. Instead of talking about Dionysos and what this play shows the reader about his nature, we're given articles on ...staging. Anything of substance has been stripped here. (There are a few exceptions. Richard Seaford's article was interesting). It was an incredibly boring and disappointing read.

[gio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, the only interesting thing is that now I know they used Crasso's head as a prop for Agave's once.

[Araiya C · Rating 5 out of 5]

look, i cannot assign reading to my wonderful prod team. but i can recommend it!