Suspense and Surprise in Greek Tragedy
When:
Friday, May 16, 2025
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM CT
Where: University Hall, Hagstrum Room, 1897 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Caroline Stevens
Group: Department of Classics
Category: Academic, Lectures & Meetings
Description:
Visiting Lecture by Glenn Most
Starting from Alfred Hitchcock's classic distinction between suspense and surprise, I ask how much of each we find in Greek tragedy. Given that the tragic plots were generally well known, we might expect to find very little of either. And yet the surviving tragedies show that there was much of both. What forms these assumed, and how they were managed, reveals much about the ancient tragedians and their relations to their audiences. I conclude with some considerations about differences between ancient and modern literature in this regard.