Antigone Undone - (Regina Collection) by Will Aitken (Hardcover)

About the Book

An urgent and mesmerizing account of the creative and destructive powers of great art, Antigone Undone also offers an inside look at the creative processes of Anne Carson, Juliette Binoche, and Ivo van Hove.

Book Synopsis

What can be learned from tragedy and the art of theater

In 2015 Will Aitken journeyed to Luxembourg for the rehearsals and premiere of Anne Carson's translation of Sophokles' 5th-century BCE tragedy Antigone, starring Juliette Binoche and directed by theatrical sensation Ivo van Hove.

In watching the play, he became awestruck with the plight of the young woman at the centre of the action. "Look at what these men are doing to me," An-tigone cries, expressing the predicament of the dispossessed throughout time. Transfixed by the strange and uncanny power of the play, he finds himself haunted by its protagonist, finally resulting in a suicidal breakdown.

With a backstage view of the action, Aitken illuminates the creative process of Carson, Binoche, and Van Hove and offers a rare glimpse into collaborative genius in action. He also investi-gates the response to the play by Hegel, Virginia Woolf, Judith Butler, and others, who too, were moved by its timeless protest against injustice.

Review Quotes

"Aitken champions a way of making and seeing the arts that heightens their relevance and brings Sophocles's 2,500-year-old play into readers' contemporary lives and world"-- "Publishers Weekly"

"For author Will Aitken, the classics are very much alive. His Antigone Undone is about what happens to us when supposedly dusty works of art don't just resonate but skewer us straight through. At first glance, this book is an examination of Antigone's lasting relevance -- and we do learn about the play's meaning, its fraught history -- but Aitken is really giving us a personal testament, not a lesson: a testament to the rough, mysterious power of art. By the end of his brief, brilliant book, Aitken himself is nearly undone -- and Antigone emerges as a 2,500-year-old juggernaut more mysterious and magnetic than before."--2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury (Michael Harris, Donna Bailey Nurse, and Joel Yanofsky)

About the Author

Will Aitken has written three novels - Realia, A Visit Home, Terre Haute - and the non-fiction book Death in Venice: A Queer Film Classic. He lives in Montreal.