Catastrophe Survived. Euripides' Plays of Mixed Reversal

Charles Segal

doi:10.2307/4347705

Catastrophe Survived. Euripides' Plays of Mixed Reversal

Bibliographic Data

ID	9673063
Authors	Charles Segal
Year	1972
Volume	65
Issue	8/9
Pages	275
Publication date	1972-01-01
Open Access	No
Type	REVIEW
Review of	Catastrophe survived: Euripides' plays of mixed reversal, Anne Pippin Burnett, 1985
Venue	The Classical World (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiers	ISSN: 0009-8418 • E-ISSN: 1558-9234
Publisher	JSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI	10.2307/4347705
OpenAlex	W2002637248
Language	EN

Examining the seven Euripidean tragicomdeies, this book contends that the plays' plots--compounded as they are of the opposite elements of good fortune and catastrophe--result from experimentation with a new form intended to express a characteristically Euripidean view of reality. The plays involve people scaled for comedy trying to live in a world ruled by the gods of tragedy, making efforts sometimes noble, sometimes sordid, but in the end, essentially futile. Burnett shows how Euripides manipulates tradtional scenes, diverting and frustrating the expectations aroused in his audience and transforming their simple pity and terror into a response that is conscious, complex, and inescapably disturbing

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