Tragedy

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 1999

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the ancient genre of tragedy and examines whether we have a psychological need for it, either as catharsis or Schadenfreude. You could be forgiven for thinking that in our century, of all centuries, the notion of the death of a tragedy would be comical. But there is a view that in its broad theatrical sense, tragedy, as defined by Aristotle and accepted to the time of Racine, has indeed lost its place and power as a form. Aristotle in his poetics held that tragedy figured men and women, often greater than ourselves, heroic, whose fall excited sensations of pity and fear which purged the emotions in the spectator, provoking a catharsis. And Chaucer defined it as a story “of hym that stood in greet prosperitee/And is yfallen from heigh degree/Into myserie, and endeth wretchedly”. Tragedy has been redefined many times and in many ages, but does it have a place in our own time? Or is the genre “dead for a ducat”. Not in life - the twentieth century is a monument to tragedy - but in art.With Professor George Steiner, critic, Extraordinary Fellow, Churchill College, Cambridge and author of The Death of Tragedy; Professor Catherine Belsey, Chair of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory, University of Cardiff and author of The Subject of Tragedy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the Inartime podcast. For more details about Inartime and for our terms of use
0:05.4	Please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for I hope you enjoy the program
0:11.8	Hello, Aristotel said it could help us it purged our emotions. It was it was cathartic
0:17.0	Chaucer defined it as a story of him that stood in great prosperity and is he fallen from high degree into misery and endeth
0:25.9	Tragedy has been redefined many times and in many ages, but does it have a place in our own time or is the genre dead for a docket not in life
0:34.9	The 20th century is a monument to tragedy, but in art
0:37.9	With me to discuss the prospect for tragedy are author and critic professor George Steiner
0:42.8	Extraordinary fellow at Churchill College Cambridge who's written much on tragedy including his major work on the subject the death of tragedy
0:49.6	I'm also joined by professor Catherine Bellzi who's chairman of the Center for Critical and Cultural Theory in the University of Cardiff and the author of the subject of tragedy
0:58.2	George Steiner for tragedy for Aristotle tragedy embodied the notion of catharsis. Can you outline for us what
1:05.8	Aristotle said in his peritix about tragedy and why it was so definingly important in Western culture for so long
1:12.4	scholars
1:13.4	Have long quarreled and sometimes very loudly about just what that rather mysterious ancient Greek word means
1:22.2	Roughly it seems to say
1:24.8	There is a
1:26.3	paradox you go you pay your seat in the theater you volunteer to be harrowed something like why do you volunteer to be harrowed and
1:35.4	Secondly, I think even more difficult why do you keep going back to be harrowed again
1:41.2	Often by the same tragic play and he said when it works you leave with your emotions
1:49.7	certainly not
1:52.0	scoured away no
1:54.0	actively richer and perhaps a little more in balance that in lives which like for all of us no personal tragedy
2:02.6	social tragedy political tragedy
	...

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