Peter Burian, Eugene Falk, Peter Smith, and Robert ter Horst conclude their series on tragedy with this episode. They say that from antiquity through medieval, renaissance, and modern interpretations, conceptions of the tragic in Western literature have resisted specific definitions, but that some elements are central to all of these historical manifestations of tragedy: free will and choice, and ideas about destiny, honor, suffering, heroism, and human pride.
In the second segment[13:36], Margreta de Grazia and Kenneth Muir discuss Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear.
At the time of this interview, Burian was professor of classics at Duke University. Falk, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1982-83), was professor of comparative literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Smith was professor of classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ter Horst, a Fellow at the Center (1982-83), was professor of Spanish at the University of Arizona.
De Grazia, a Fellow at the Center (1982-1983), was professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Muir was professor emeritus of English at the University of Liverpool.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
