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Document Details : Title: Euripides and his Prologues Subtitle: A Reappraisal Author(s): DE JONG, Irene J.F. Journal: Pharos Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Date: 2009-2010 Pages: 21-34 DOI: 10.2143/PHA.17.1.2136890 Abstract : The Euripidean prologue, systematic (though not per se objective) and addressed indirectly to the audience, has had a decisive influence on European drama but has never been very popular with literary critics. This paper investigates Euripides’ possible intentions with and model for this device. Its summarizing and genealogical structure, reporting on one character after another, resembles the style of the mythographical handbook which was emerging in the playwright’s time. Framing his plays with narratives Euripides seems to call attention to their nature as myths, as representations of the past, rather than as ‘reality’. |
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