Euripides and Dionysus, an Interpretation of the "Bacchae"

Abstract

Euripides and Dionysus is a brilliant and influential study of the god of Greek drama and the one surviving tragedy, Euripides' Bacchae, in which he appears. The play has been intensively discussed by critics and very often staged, imitated and adapted in the years since Winnington-Ingram wrote this pioneering monograph, which is still cited as if it were a contemporary work of criticism. His interpretation, presented with great elegance, was composed at a time (just before the Second World War) when he was deeply troubled by what he had seen of fascism; it has special interest now for its place in the history of reception. P.E. Easterling's new Introduction sets the book in its original context and evaluates its reading of the Bacchae in light of more recent work on Greek religion and drama.