Staged Narrative - by James Barrett (Hardcover)

About the Book

"I have greatly enjoyed reading this study not only because of its eminently readable style but above all because of its well presented and important argument. Making excellent use of existing scholarship on the tragic messenger, James Barrett manages to increase considerably our understanding of the place and function of this well-known, but often underrated figure. Thus, the relation between tragic and epic narrative, which so far had been described largely in terms of the shared use of unaugmented verb forms, is explored on a much larger and significant scale. Barrett also works out well the tensions between the messenger's human focalization and epic ambitions. The different roles of the messenger are effectively brought into relation with the thematic interests of different plays. This is a study which has much to bring to both student and specialist."--Irene J.F. de Jong, author of "A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey "
"An agile and resourceful study of tragic messenger figures and their speeches. James Barrett explores this fascinating subject with the help of narrative theory and a sophisticated approach to genre and rhetoric. His attentive readings of a range of plays--from "Persians" to "Rhesos"--convincingly back up his claim that messengers raise fundamental questions about knowledge and authority. This is a learned book, written with engaging zest and a fine feeling for the complex workings of dramatic narrative."--Pat Easterling, editor of "The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy"
"The messenger speech "(angelia)" is among the most familiar conventions of the Greek stage, occurring in 26 of the 32 extant tragedies. James Barrett interrogates the figure of the messenger and questions the transparency of the messenger's report. Eschewing approaches that focus more narrowly on the dramatic function or narratological workings of messenger speeches, Barrett focuses on their epistemic status--and with powerful results. He locates the literary origins of the messenger in the epic narrator of the Iliad and Odyssey and identifies an inner tension within the messenger's claims to privileged status. [His] examination of the messenger works through a set of skillful readings of key texts."--Thomas Falkner, author of "The Poetics of Old Age in Greek Epic, Lyric, and Tragedy"

Book Synopsis

The messenger who reports important action that has occurred offstage is a familiar inhabitant of Greek tragedy. A messenger informs us about the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, the slaughter of Aigisthos, and the death of Hippolytus, among other important events. Despite its prevalence, this conventional figure remains only little understood. Combining several critical approaches-narrative theory, genre study, and rhetorical analysis-this lucid study develops a synthetic view of the messenger of Greek tragedy, showing how this role illuminates some of the genre's most persistent concerns, especially those relating to language, knowledge, and the workings of tragic theater itself.

James Barrett gives close readings of several plays including Aeschylus's Persians, Sophocles' Electra and Oedipus Tyrannus, and Euripides' Bacchae and Rhesos. He traces the literary ancestry of the tragic messenger, showing that the messenger's narrative constitutes an unexplored site of engagement with Homeric epic, and that the role illuminates fifth-century b.c. experimentation with modes of speech. Breaking new ground in the study of Athenian tragedy, Barrett deepens our understanding of many central texts and of a form of theater that highlights the fragility and limits of human knowledge, a theme explored by its use of the messenger.

From the Back Cover

"I have greatly enjoyed reading this study not only because of its eminently readable style but above all because of its well presented and important argument. Making excellent use of existing scholarship on the tragic messenger, James Barrett manages to increase considerably our understanding of the place and function of this well-known, but often underrated figure. Thus, the relation between tragic and epic narrative, which so far had been described largely in terms of the shared use of unaugmented verb forms, is explored on a much larger and significant scale. Barrett also works out well the tensions between the messenger's human focalization and epic ambitions. The different roles of the messenger are effectively brought into relation with the thematic interests of different plays. This is a study which has much to bring to both student and specialist."--Irene J.F. de Jong, author of A Narratological Commentary on the Odyssey

"An agile and resourceful study of tragic messenger figures and their speeches. James Barrett explores this fascinating subject with the help of narrative theory and a sophisticated approach to genre and rhetoric. His attentive readings of a range of plays--from Persians to Rhesos--convincingly back up his claim that messengers raise fundamental questions about knowledge and authority. This is a learned book, written with engaging zest and a fine feeling for the complex workings of dramatic narrative."--Pat Easterling, editor of The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy

"The messenger speech (angelía) is among the most familiar conventions of the Greek stage, occurring in 26 of the 32 extant tragedies. James Barrett interrogates the figure of the messenger and questions the transparency of the messenger's report. Eschewing approaches that focus more narrowly on the dramatic function or narratological workings of messenger speeches, Barrett focuses on their epistemic status--and with powerful results. He locates the literary origins of the messenger in the epic narrator of the Iliad and Odyssey and identifies an inner tension within the messenger's claims to privileged status. [His] examination of the messenger works through a set of skillful readings of key texts."--Thomas Falkner, author of The Poetics of Old Age in Greek Epic, Lyric, and Tragedy

About the Author

James Barrett is Research Associate and Faculty Fellow in Classics at Colby College.