SYSU Zhuhai Campus Philosophy Forum (VII)——Antigone and the Sense of Tragedy

Organizer: Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)，Sun Yat-sen University

Topic: Antigone and The Sense of Tragedy

Speaker: Dariush M. Doust (北京师范大学哲学与社会学学院)

Moderator: Jianhong CHEN (Professor, Sun Yat-sen University)

Time: Apr. 21st, 3:00pm

Venue: R106, No.13 Administrative Building of Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai), SYSU

Abstract

Sophocles’ tragedy, Antigone, has been the subject of numerous theoretical treatments since the Nineteenth century, particularly in the German intellectual and philosophical tradition. Hegel, Goethe and Hölderlin and later Kierkegaard were the most well-known readers of the drama. During the 20^th century, Antigone experienced a renewed interest outside Classic studies. The piece became a focal point where philosophy, literature, theatre and cinema equally invested a great amount of interest. Apart from divergent adaptations of the play, by J. Anouilh during Nazi occupation of Paris in 1942 and by B. Brecht in the 1960s[1], the tragedy had been studied in the 1950s in France by Jacques Lacan. In the 1980s and 90s, Antigone was again taken up, this time within gender studies. This lecture focuses on the relationship between the major philosophical interpretation of Antigone, Hegel’s , and 20^th century’s discussions with the aim to delineate the persistence of a certain theme, the modern subject as tragic, throughout this uninterrupted philosophical interest in Antigone both as a play and as a figure.