Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) Paperback by Adrian Poole (oxford University Press)

This is a good introduction to tragedy and the problems it raises as a mode of representing suffering and as a literary genre. It is well written and it presents the material in a way that is very easy to follow. The references provided are very helpful. It also deserves praise for having a truly comparative outlook. The average, and even the illustrious, professor of English would only know Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare, and oh, yes, those Greek guys and maybe Racine. Poole, on the other hand, draws examples from a variety of tragedies across centuries and national traditions. My qualms have to do with the perfunctory and even simplistic way in which he presents Hegel and Nietzsche's theories. For those, the reader must look elsewhere.

To your local anchorperson, the word "tragedy" brings to mind an accidental fire at a low-income apartment block, the horrors of a natural disaster, or atrocities occurring in distant lands. To a classicist however, the word brings to mind the masterpieces of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Racine; beautiful dramas featuring romanticized torment. What has tragedy been made to mean by dramatists, storytellers, philosophers, politicians, and journalists over the last two and a half millennia? Why do we still read, re-write, and stage these old plays? This lively and engaging work presents an entirely unique approach which shows the relevance of tragedy to today's world, and extends beyond drama and literature into visual art and everyday experience. Addressing questions about belief, blame, mourning, revenge, pain, and irony, noted scholar Adrian Poole demonstrates the age-old significance of our attempts to make sense of terrible suffering.