Description
Book SynopsisRowan Williams explores the definition of the tragic as a mode of narrative, in this short and thought-provoking volume. He turns to subjects including the role of irony in tragedy, the relationship between tragedy and political as well as religious rhetoric, common ground between tragedy and comedy, and the complex place of theology in the debate.
Trade ReviewThere are insights and humane wisdom to be found on every page of Williams's study ... As Williams's incisive readings suggest, great tragedies can yield crucial moral knowledge. Preparing oneself to receive this knowledge, though, likely requires an imagination formed by other liturgies. Even then, perhaps, to watch a tragedy is to undertake a risk that promises no certain insight. * Steven Knepper, Commonweal Magazine *
The Tragic Imagination proves rewarding. Williams offers intelligent - and not straighforwardly theological - readings of Madea, Antigone, King Lear, Othello, and modern plays by Sarah Kane and Edward Bond. * Clare Carlisle, Times Literary Supplement *
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Handling danger: the political roots of tragedy 2: Acknowledgement and hiddenness: what does tragedy make us know? 3: Reconciliation and its discontents: thinking with Hegel 4: Absolute tragedy and moral extremity 5: Tragedy against pessimism: religious discourse and tragic drama 6: Conclusions
