Customer Reviews

Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides' "Bacchae"

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Charles Segal is acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on Euripides' Bacchae, and has written several billion other articles on this subject and other themes in Greek literature. So he knows a thing or two. Now this helps, as just about any idea that one has while reading the Bacchae can be found dissected and pondered over in this book. Segal brings together psychoanalytical theory, ritualistic (a la Seaford) theory, and many, many others. However...it takes a while to read and some parts take a while to digest. Overall, though, it is very comprehensive and a must for anyone contemplating studying this fantastic play. One complaint: the bibliographies are great, but the afterword (of the 1997 edition) mentions some texts which aren't at the back, and one which doesn't even seem to exist!!! Gah! But, nice one, Mr Segal...sets the bar.

I tend to agree with the previous review on this book, but I thought it worth mentioning that this text also feels VERY Nietzschean (from Birth of Tragedy). That is to say, Nietzsche's metaphysical principle of the Dionysian (in opposition to the Apollonian in BoT) seems to underwrite every chapter. This is fairly common, I suppose, since "Dionysian" is virtually synonymous with wild/ecstatic/irrational these days (largely because of Birth of Tragedy). But there. I said it. cheers.