A Companion to Sophocles

Few literary figures have gained more immediate—or lengthier—critical acclaim than the ancient Greek dramatist Sophocles. From his first victory in the Athenian spring drama competition in 468 B.C, the works of Sophocles went on to become celebrated for tackling such thorny issues as personal will, divine justice, and the limitations of human knowledge. His development of the self–motivated hero’s inevitable clash with unavoidable circumstances is widely recognized as the birth of Western tragedy. A Companion to Sophocles presents a comprehensive collection of original essays by leading scholars that address all aspects of the life, works, and critical reception of Sophocles. Initial essays introduce Sophocles’ extant tragedies, as well as fragments of his lost plays including the Ichneutae . Subsequent readings explore Sophocles’ relation to the intellectual, social, and political currents of fifth century Athens; issues of gender and sexuality; significant moments in the history of interpreting Sophocles; and reception of Sophocles by both ancient and modern playwrights. A Companion to Sophocles offers illuminating insights into one of the most influential dramatists the world has ever known.

List of Illustrations x List of Abbreviations xi Notes on Contributors xv Acknowledgments xx 1 Introduction 1 Kirk Ormand PART I Text and Author 7 2 The Textual Transmission of Sophocles’ Dramas 9 P. J. Finglass 3 Sophocles’ Biography 25 Ruth Scodel 4 Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides 38 John Davidson PART II The Plays and the Fragments 53 5 Antigone 55 André Lardinois 6 Polyphonic Ajax 69 Peter Burian 7 Oedipus Tyrannus 84 Vayos Liapis 8 Electra 98 Francis Dunn 9 The Divided Worlds of Sophocles’ Women of Trachis 111 Margaret Rachel Kitzinger 10 The Philoctetes of Sophocles 126 Paul Woodruff 11 Last Things: Oedipus at Colonus and the End of Tragedy 141 Thomas Van Nortwick 12 Sophocles’ Ichneutae or How to Write a Satyr Play 155 Willeon Slenders 13 Sophoclean Fragments 169 Carolin Hahnemann PART III Sophoclean Techniques 185 14 Sophocles Didaskalos 187 C. W. Marshall 15 Poetic Speakers in Sophocles 204 Sarah H. Nooter 16 Sophocles’ Choruses 220 Sheila Murnaghan 17 Lament as Speech Act in Sophocles 236 Casey Dué PART IV Sophocles and Fifth–Century Political, Religious, and Intellectual Thought 251 18 Sophocles and Class 253 Peter W. Rose 19 Sophocles and Contemporary Politics 270 Robin Osborne 20 Sophocles and Athenian Law 287 Edward M. Harris 21 The Necessity and Limits of Deliberation in Sophocles’ Theban Plays 301 Edith Hall 22 Heroic Pharmacology: Sophocles and the Metaphors of Greek Medical Thought 316 Robin Mitchell–Boyask 23 Sophocles and Hero Cult 331 Bruno Currie PART V Gender and Sexuality 349 24 Cutting to the Bone: Recalcitrant Bodies in Sophocles 351 Nancy Worman 25 Staging Mothers in Sophocles’ Electra and Oedipus the King 367 Laura McClure 26 Marriage in Sophocles: A Problem for Social History 381 Cynthia Patterson 27 Masculinity and Freedom in Sophocles 395 Bruce M. King PART VI Historical Interpretations 409 28 Aristotle on Sophocles 411 John T. Kirby 29 Sophocles and Homer 424 Seth L. Schein 30 Facing Up to Tragedy: Toward an Intellectual History of Sophocles in Europe from Camerarius to Nietzsche 440 Michael Lurie 31 Virginia Woolf, Richard Jebb, and Sophocles’ Antigone 462 Denise Eileen McCoskey and Mary Jean Corbett 32 Freud and the Drama of Oedipal Truth 477 Richard H. Armstrong 33 Sophocles with Lacan 492 Mark Buchan PART VII Influence and Imitation 505 34 Oedipus on Oedipus: Sophocles, Seneca, Politics, and Therapy 507 Alex Dressler 35 Jean Anouilh’s Antigone 523 Jed Deppman 36 Enter Antigone, Let the Agones Begin: Sophocles’ Antigone in Nineteenth–Century Greece 538 Gonda Van Steen 37 Tony Harrison’s The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus 557 Hallie Rebecca Marshall 38 Black Oedipus 572 Emily Wilson Index Locorum 586 Index 590

Kirk Ormand is Associate Professor of Classics at Oberlin.  He is the author of Exchange and the Maiden: Marriage in Sophoclean Tragedy (1999) and Controlling Desires: Sexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome (2008), as well as articles on Hesiod, Euripides, Lucan, Ovid, and the Greek Novel.

“This volume will indeed serve as an indispensable reference point for the future study of Sophocles.”  ( Bryn Mawr Classical Review , 1 January 2013) “Although the book is scholarly and packed with information, it is accessible to nonspecialists.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  Upper–division undergraduates and above.”  ( Choice , 1 November 2012)