Editing Tragedy (section)

==Modern development==

In [[modernist literature]], the definition of tragedy has become less precise. The most fundamental change has been the rejection of Aristotle's dictum that true tragedy can only depict those with power and high status. [[Arthur Miller]]'s essay "Tragedy and the Common Man" (1949) argues that tragedy may also depict ordinary people in domestic surroundings thus defining Domestic tragedies.{{sfn|Miller|1949|p=894}} British playwright [[Howard Barker]] has argued strenuously for the rebirth of tragedy in the contemporary theatre, most notably in his volume ''Arguments for a Theatre''. "You emerge from tragedy equipped against lies. After the musical, you're anybody's fool," he insists.{{sfn|Barker|1989|p=13}}

Critics such as [[George Steiner]] have even been prepared to argue that tragedy may no longer exist in comparison with its former manifestations in classical antiquity. In ''The Death of Tragedy'' (1961) George Steiner outlined the characteristics of Greek tragedy and the traditions that developed from that period. In the Foreword (1980) to a new edition of his book Steiner concluded that 'the dramas of Shakespeare are not a renascence of or a humanistic variant of the absolute tragic model. They are, rather, a rejection of this model in the light of tragi-comic and "realistic" criteria.' In part, this feature of Shakespeare's mind is explained by his bent of mind or imagination which was 'so encompassing, so receptive to the plurality of diverse orders of experience.' When compared to the drama of Greek antiquity and French classicism Shakespeare's forms are 'richer but hybrid'.<ref>George Steiner, ''The Death of Tragedy'' [1961] (Oxford University Press, 1980; Yale University Press, 1996), p. xiii.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Steiner |first=George |date=Winter 2004 |title="Tragedy," Reconsidered |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20057818 |journal=New Literary History |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1353/nlh.2004.0024 |jstor=20057818 |s2cid=201768479 |issn=0028-6087 |url-access=subscription |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926035926/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20057818 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Numerous books and plays continue to be written in the tradition of tragedy to this day examples include ''[[Froth on the Daydream]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sallis |first=James |date=4 May 2008 |title='The Dead All Have the Same Skin' by Boris Vian |url=https://www.latimes.com/style/la-bk-sallis4-2008may04-story.html |access-date=26 January 2019 |website=www.latimes.com |quote=His great novel, "L'Écume des jours" ("Foam of the Daze"), is a tragedy of young love in which a woman dies of the lily growing in her lung. |archive-date=27 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127152626/https://www.latimes.com/style/la-bk-sallis4-2008may04-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chapple |first=Tobias |title=Books in Review: Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian |url=https://www.litro.co.uk/2014/08/books-in-review-froth-on-the-daydream-by-boris-vian/ |access-date=26 January 2019 |website=www.litro.co.uk |quote=The characters aren't meant to be real. But it's also devastating when the novel central tragedy strikes – that all too real feeling of an unjust world that takes away as easily as it gives, and of people trying as hard as they can to be happy despite it. |archive-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405214540/https://www.litro.co.uk/2014/08/books-in-review-froth-on-the-daydream-by-boris-vian/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Road]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bernier |first=Kathy |date=3 December 2016 |title=REVIEW: 'The Road' Is A Gripping Prepper Novel Full Of Tragedy, Struggle And Hope |url=https://www.offthegridnews.com/extreme-survival/review-the-road-is-a-gripping-prepper-novel-full-of-tragedy-struggle-and-hope/ |access-date=26 January 2019 |website=www.offthegridnews.com |archive-date=23 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223164734/http://www.offthegridnews.com/extreme-survival/review-the-road-is-a-gripping-prepper-novel-full-of-tragedy-struggle-and-hope/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Fault in Our Stars]]'', ''[[Fat City (novel)|Fat City]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meehan |first=Ryan |title=The Frontiers of American Tragedy |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/9/4/the-frontiers-of-american-tragedy-he/ |access-date=26 January 2019 |website=www.thecrimson.com |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809111324/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/9/4/the-frontiers-of-american-tragedy-he/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Rabbit Hole (play)|Rabbit Hole]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 November 2009 |title=Young boy's death drives tragedy of 'Rabbit Hole' |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2009/11/18/young-boys-death-drives-tragedy-of-rabbit-hole/ |access-date=26 January 2019 |website=www.ocregister.com |archive-date=11 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711021954/https://www.ocregister.com/2009/11/18/young-boys-death-drives-tragedy-of-rabbit-hole/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bustin |first=Jeremy |title=BWW Review: Cadence Theatre's RABBIT HOLE Examines Life After Tragedy |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/norfolk/article/BWW-Review-Cadence-Theatres-RABBIT-HOLE-Examines-Life-After-Tragedy-20170505 |access-date=26 January 2019 |website=www.broadwayworld.com |archive-date=11 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711021952/https://www.broadwayworld.com/norfolk/article/BWW-Review-Cadence-Theatres-RABBIT-HOLE-Examines-Life-After-Tragedy-20170505 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[Requiem for a Dream (novel)|Requiem for a Dream]]'', ''[[The Handmaid's Tale]].''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4CMq2Cirr4AC&q=handmaid%27s+tale+%22tragedy%22&pg=PA45 |title=Tragedy in Transition |date=15 April 2008 |isbn=9780470691304 |page=45 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=23 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323093354/https://books.google.com/books?id=4CMq2Cirr4AC&q=handmaid%27s+tale+%22tragedy%22&pg=PA45 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEBvDwAAQBAJ&q=%22handmaid%27s+tale%22+kevin+taylor&pg=PT287 |title=Christ the Tragedy of God: A Theological Exploration of Tragedy |date=21 September 2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351607834 |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=23 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323093354/https://books.google.com/books?id=kEBvDwAAQBAJ&q=%22handmaid%27s+tale%22+kevin+taylor&pg=PT287 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kendrick |first=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cEomBiT6d9IC&q=the+handmaid%27s+tale+%22tragedy%22&pg=PA148 |title=Margaret Atwood's Textual Assassinations: Recent Poetry and Fiction |year=2003 |isbn=9780814209295 |page=148 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=23 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323093354/https://books.google.com/books?id=cEomBiT6d9IC&q=the+handmaid%27s+tale+%22tragedy%22&pg=PA148 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stray |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdXUAAAAQBAJ&q=Torn+by+Desire:+Sparagmos+in+Greek+Tragedy+and+Recent+Fiction+%22Handmaid%27s+tale%22&pg=PA78 |title=Remaking the Classics: Literature, Genre and Media in Britain 1800–2000 |date=16 October 2013 |isbn=9781472538604 |page=78 |publisher=A&C Black |access-date=22 November 2020 |archive-date=23 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323093404/https://books.google.com/books?id=jdXUAAAAQBAJ&q=Torn+by+Desire:+Sparagmos+in+Greek+Tragedy+and+Recent+Fiction+%22Handmaid%27s+tale%22&pg=PA78 |url-status=live }}</ref>