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Few theories pose as great a challenge to define as those of tragedy. From ancient Greece through the Renaissance and into the modern age, the idea of what constitutes tragedy has been examined and reworked by philosophers and theorists, with shifting emphases. Hans-Thies Lehmann's dense, yet important book takes on the enormous task of defining tragedy historically and onstage, as he works to "identify the continuity of a tragic motif that admittedly does not proceed smoothly" (7; emphasis in original).
Lehmann begins his examination with Aristotle amid the Attic "palaia diaphora" (24)-the ancient quarrel between philosophy and theatre. Next, he examines Hegel's influential, though static, theory of tragic conflict, declaring it concrete but bookish; whereas Nietzsche, Lehmann argues, situates tragedy theatrically-in gesture, music, and the theatrical event. Examining tragic concepts like rupture, suspense, overstepping, immoderation, excess, intrigue, violence, death, Lehmann asks: Is tragedy defined by character overreach (Aristotelian hubris), compassion (Lessing), or conflict (Hegel)? Is it a mode of aesthetic experience (genre) or is it tied to speech acts (Benjamin) or tethered to text (Szondi)? Is it quotidian (Maeterlinck) or quixotic (Heidegger)? Is it post-dramatic (Artaud, Brecht) or is it a theatrical experience defined viscerally, vicariously, and representationally through madness,...