Memory, Mimesis, Tragedy: The Scene Before Philosophy

Abstract

Through an interpretation of a well-known incident from Herodotus—the Athenian reception of the early tragedy The Fall of Miletus by Phrynicus—Kottman argues that the origins of tragedy lie not, as Vernant, Segal and others have suggested, in a mimetic presentation of political life or in a consciously fictional questioning of the city. Rather, by focusing on the singular reaction of the Athenians to The Fall of Miletus, Kottman posits a "pre-philosophical" approach to the origins of theatre, one that stresses the shared, living memory of the spectators. Instead of witnessing the mimesis of a legendary figure, the audience instead partakes of a mimesis of quite a different sort. Through this more originary mimesis, Kottman argues for a re-evaluation of the relationship between mimesis and politics more generally, in light of this early attempt by Phrynicus to stage the political prior to the philosophical.