Theatrical Space and Historical Place in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus: (Greek Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches)

While Greek tragedies are often studied as works of literature, they are less frequently examined as products of the social and political environment in which they were created. Rarely, too, are the visual and spatial aspects of these plays given careful consideration. In this detailed and innovative book, Lowell Edmunds combines two readings of the Oedipus at Colonus to arrive at a new way of looking at Greek tragedy. Edmunds sets forth a semiotic theory of theatrical space, and then applies this theory to the visual and spatial dimensions of the Oedipus at Colonus. In his historical analysis, Edmunds describes the Athenian revolution of 411 B.C.E. and its effect on Colonus. The book includes an appendix on the life of Sophocles and the reception of the Oedipus at Colonus. Edmunds' unique approach to the Oedipus at Colonus. makes this an important book for students and scholars of semiotics, Greek tragedy, and theatrical performance.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 List of Illustrations. Acknowledgments. Introduction: Geography, Philosophy, and the Environment Chapter 2 On the Ethical Determination of Geography: A Kantian prolegomenon Chapter 3 Nature Presence: Reflections on Healing and Domination Chapter 4 The Taking Clause and the Meanings of Land Chapter 5 Muslim Contributions to Geography and Environmental Ethics: The Challenges of Comparison and Pluralism Chapter 6 The Dialectical Social Geography of Eliseè Reclus Chapter 7 The Maintenance of Natural Capital: Motivations and Methods Chapter 8 Wilderness Management Chapter 9 Mead and Heidegger: Exploring the Ethics and Theory of Space, Place, and the Environment Chapter 10 Critical Reflections on Biocentric Environmental Ethics: Is It an Alternative to Anthropocentrism? Chapter 11 Ecology, Modernity, and the Intellectual Legacy of the Frankfurt School Chapter 12 Critical Questions in Environmental Philosophy Chapter 13 Index

About the Author :
Lowell Edmunds is professor of classics at Rutgers University.

Review :
In sum, Edmunds offers a theoretically sophisticated vision of post-modern Sophocles; I have learned much from this book. A specialized and challenging study. To what extent is the meaning of a historically remote text anchored to the past? In this provocative new historical reading of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus, Edmunds explores the archaeology of meaning from the suggestive vantage point of a classicist fully at home with the major issues of contemporary critical theory.