The first comprehensive treatment in English of the rich and varied afterlife of classical drama across Latin America, this volume explores the myriad ways in which ancient Greek and Roman texts have been adapted, invoked and re-worked in notable modern theatrical works across North and South America and the Caribbean, while also paying particular attention to the national and local context of each play.
A comprehensive introduction provides a critical overview of the varying issues and complexities that arise when studying the afterlife of the European classics in the theatrical stages across this diverse and vast region. Fourteen chapters, divided into three general geographical sub-regions (Southern Cone, Brazil and the Caribbean and North America) present a strong connection to an ancient dramatic source text as well as comment upon important socio-political crises in the modern history of Latin America. The diversity and expertise of the voices in this volume translate into a multi-ranging approach to the topic that encompasses a variety of theoretical and interdisciplinary perspectives from classics, Latin American studies and theatre and performance studies.
Author(s): Rosa Andújar, Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos
Series: Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 312
City: London
Cover page
Halftitle page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
CONTENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS
CONTRIBUTORS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CHAPTER 1 STAGING THE EUROPEAN CLASSICAL IN ‘LATIN’ AMERICA: AN INTRODUCTION
‘Latin’ America?
Latin America and the postcolonial
Latin American receptions beyond hybridity
Why drama?
PART I SOUTHERN CONE
CHAPTER 2 FROM EPIC TO TRAGEDY: THEATRE AND POLITICS IN JUAN CRUZ VARELA’S DIDO
Margin vs. centre
Dido’s homosociality
CHAPTER 3 LEOPOLDO MARECHAL’S ANTÍGONA VÉLEZ: REWRITING GREEK TRAGEDY AS A FOUNDATION MYTH IN PERONIST ARGENTINA
Catholic nationalism, Peronism and myths of the nation
Antigone as a foundation myth
CHAPTER 4 JUAN RADRIGÁN’S MEDEA MAPUCHE: RECREATING EURIPIDES’ REVENGE TRAGEDY IN AN INDIGENOUS CHILEAN CONTEXT
The political and cultural setting of the play
Departures from Euripides’ Medea, or why Kütral becomes ‘Medea’
CHAPTER 5 PHILOCTETES AND MEDEA IN CONTEMPORARY CHILEAN THEATRE
Filoctetes (la herida y el arco)
Diarrea
‘Chile is not that pretty’
PART II BRAZIL
CHAPTER 6 A GOD SLEPT HERE BY GUILHERME FIGUEIREDO: A RADICAL MODERNIST AMPHITRUO FROM BRAZIL
The double layer of metatheatre
The reinterpretation of the roles of husband and wife
Amphitryon Zero
CHAPTER 7 GUILHERME FIGUEIREDO, AMPHITRYON AND THE WIDOW OF EPHESUS: LINKING PLAUTUS AND PETRONIUS
Figueiredo’s Widow of Ephesus as a Petronian adaptation
Figueiredo’s Widow of Ephesus as a case of contaminatio
CHAPTER 8 ELECTRA’S TURN TO THE DARK SIDE: NELSON RODRIGUES’ SENHORA DOS AFOGADOS
A nexus of receptions, ancient and modern
The turn to the dark side
The chorus in Rodrigues
Conclusion
CHAPTER 9 BECOMING ANTIGONE: THE CLASSICS AS A MODEL OF RESISTANCE IN JORGE ANDRADE’S PEDREIRA DAS ALMAS
Pedreira das Almas: The historical setting of the play
Mariana becoming Antigone
Pedreira das Almas as a symbol of resistance
Conclusion – Andrade as Antigone
PART III THE CARIBBEAN AND NORTH AMERICA
CHAPTER 10 DISTORTING THE LYSISTRATA PARADIGM IN PUERTO RICO: FRANCISCO ARRIVÍ’S CLUB DE SOLTEROS
Adapting Lysistrata in the modern world
Comic rewritings in the modern world
Club de Solteros and Puerto Rican drama
CHAPTER 11 CHALLENGING THE CANON IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: LISÍSTRATA ODIA LA POLÍTICA BY FRANKLIN DOMÍNGUEZ
A Dominican Lysistrata
Challenging definitions in antiquity and modernity
Reconstructing Lysistrata through the Dominican lens
CHAPTER 12 AESCHYLUS AND THE CUBAN COUNTER-REVOLUTION
Arrufat’s polyphonic chorus
The shield scene
Etéocles and Polinice
An unexpected ending
CHAPTER 13 THE CONTEST BETWEEN CRÉOLITÉ AND CLASSICS IN PATRICK CHAMOISEAU’S STAGE PLAYS
Une Manière d’Antigone
Manman Dlo contre la fée Carabosse
CHAPTER 14 DISMANTLING THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL MACHINE: FELIKS MORISO-LEWA’S ANTIGÒN AND LUIS ALFARO’S ELECTRICIDAD
Moriso’s Antigòn
Alfaro’s Electricidad
Conclusions: Agamben, bare life and the classical tradition
CHAPTER 15 ANTIGONE UNDEAD: TRAGEDY AND BIOPOLITICS IN PERLA DE LA ROSA’S ANTÍGONA: LAS VOCES QUE INCENDIAN EL DESIERTO
Antigones undead: Symbolic death in Sophocles and the Sophoclean tradition
Antigone reanimated: Symbolic death in de la Rosa’s Antígona
Biopolitics
Conclusions
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
