Euripides and the Boundaries of the Human

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Euripides and the Boundaries of the Human presents the first single volume reading in nearly fifty years of all of Euripides surviving plays. Rather than the piece meal examination of one or a handful of dramas in monograph or article form, the book insists on the thematic and stylistic parallels that unite a diverse canon of works. Euripides is often referred to as the most modern of the three Ancient Greek Tragedians, but in what way can the work of this fifth century BC artist be claimed as modern The multi layered presentation of character is new within the context of Athenian Tragedy. The plays reveal also equal concern with the preservation and re-vitalization of tradition, especially with respect to the portrayal of the Olympian gods. Euripidean drama upholds tradition just as vigorously as it posits a new kind of realism in character portrayal in the Ancient Theatre. Euripidean drama fuses what was old with what was new in order to revitalize and perpetuate the art of tragedy. This book will be of interest to professionals and students in the fields of Classics, Greek Drama in Translation or the original Greek, Theatre Studies, Comparative Literature, Tragedy and Religion.

Reviews

Euripides and the Boundaries of the Human is a lucid, well-written and comprehensive overview of Euripides work. Each chapter gives a thoughtful and accessible introduction to one play and the scholarly debates surrounding it, which will be useful for both students and scholars. -- Laurel Bowman, University of Victoria
In this useful survey of Euripides, Ringer (Marymount Manhattan College) contests the common view of the dramatist as an iconoclastic, ironic, and modern poet. In his introduction the author contends that Euripidess vision of the gods is traditional and Homeric, and that he shows little evidence of advocating the rationalistic and sophistic views offered by many of his characters. Ringer devotes each of the 19 chapters to one play, in each chapter summarizing the plot and offering interpretation ...Ringer makes a solid argument for seeing Euripides as a poet who accepts tradition, even while portraying characters who do not. This study will not replace early surveys such as G. M. A. Grube'sThe Drama of Euripides (1941) and D. J. Conacher'sEuripidean Drama(CH, Jul'68), or handbooks such as Albin Lesky'sGreek Tragic Poetry(1972) and Edith Hall'sGreek Tragedy: Suffering under the Sun(CH, Aug'10, 47-6703), but it deserves to be read alongside them. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * CHOICE *
In this beautifully produced and highly readable introductory volume to Euripidean drama Ringer offers an insightful lengthy survey of the 19 surviving plays ascribed to Euripides. . . [it] not only serves as a valuable addition to an enormous amount of research work produced by a cohort of eminent scholars in recent decades on the dramas of Euripides, but also continues in the most creative and stimulating way possible a long and honoured humanistic tradition of Euripidean scholarship. . . . Overall this theoretically mature and always commonsensical and informative volume is a valuable contribution to the ever-expanding field of Euripidean studies. It is a work of high intelligence and exemplary scholarship, which is sophisticated enough to please experts and at the same time written in a clear and engaging manner accessible to a non-specialist audience. * The Journal of Hellenic Studies *
Euripides has often been overshadowed by Aeschylus and Sophocles, and his plays criticized for their happy endings, rhetorical excess, or shifting focus. Ringer admires Euripides and gives his less familiar plays their due. -- Ruth Scodel, University of Michigan
Euripides and the Boundaries of the Human is a lucid, well-written and comprehensive overview of Euripides work. Each chapter gives a thoughtful and accessible introduction to one play and the scholarly debates surrounding it, which will be useful for both students and scholars. -- Laurel Bowman, University of Victoria
Euripides has often been overshadowed by Aeschylus and Sophocles, and his plays criticized for their happy endings, rhetorical excess, or shifting focus. Ringer admires Euripides and gives his less familiar plays their due. -- Ruth Scodel, University of Michigan

Author Bio

Mark Ringer is professor of theatre at Marymount Manhattan College.