Aeschylus

The concept, size, and potential readership of the Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World all make it possible to contribute a book on Aeschylus that will be distinctive from and competitive with the various strong general studies of Aeschylus that have been published over the past generation (most of which, in fact, are not now available outside of libraries). I propose to write a book on Aeschylus of c.70,000 words (c.200 pages) that, in addition to necessary basic material, will focus on a series of tough and exciting interpretive problems (of varying types) in the seven extant plays. The plays will be treated individually and chronologically (five of the plays have sure dates; the date of Suppliant Women is highly probable; the date of Prometheus Bound must remain highly speculative). I hope to attract two different kinds of audience, one broad and one more targeted. First, I am broadly addressing students, teachers, and general readers with an interest in Greek tragedy and ancient drama but with no knowledge of the Greek language presumed. Second, I am also addressing serious scholars and students of the Classics and of Greek tragedy. Therefore, I will use a certain amount of Greek terminology and text, but always with a translation provided. Such a book, of moderate size and large purposes, must be rigorously selective in the interpretive problems it attacks. Each chapter on a given play will raise numerous interpretive issues, but I propose to highlight for each play one particular problem involving broad issues of dramatic meaning(s) and one involving matters of staging. The considerable benefit of the latter effort will be to emphasize that the plays should always be experienced as live theater and that staging crucially affects interpretation. In addition, in a few places I propose to present textual problems that have a major impact on interpretation and that can be described in an accessible way. As I proceed to outline below for each play the particular issues I propose to highlight, it should be kept in mind that every chapter on a play will also give an overall interpretive reading.