The Tragedies of Sophocles

by James Morwood

This book provides separate discussions of each of Sophocles' seven Ajax, Women of Trachis, Antigone, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. It sets these between an essay that outlines modern approaches to Greek tragedy and a final chapter that spotlights a key moment in the reception of each work.Focusing on the tragedies' dramatic power and the challenges with which they confront an audience, Morwood refuses to confine them within a supposedly Sophoclean template. They are seven unique works, only alike in the fact that they are all major masterpieces. Focusing on the tragedies' dramatic power and the challenges with which they confront an audience, Morwood refuses to confine them within a supposedly Sophoclean template. They are seven unique works, only alike in the fact that they are all major masterpieces.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

James Henry Weldon Morwood was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics, and at Oxford University, where he was a Fellow of Wadham College, and also Dean. He wrote almost thirty books, ranging from biography to translations and academic studies of Classical literature.
His best-known work is The Oxford Latin Course (1987–92, with Maurice Balme, new ed, 2012), whose popularity in the USA led to the publication of a specifically American edition in 1996. Morwood is credited with helping to ensure the survival - even flourishing - of Classical education into the twenty-first century, both in the UK and the USA.