Seneca's "The Madness of Hercules" made its debut this month – and San Francisco actress and singer Grace Wade smoldered as the betrayed Juno in Dana Gioia's stunning new translation of the tragedy.
Dana Gioia's Seneca: The Madness of Hercules strikes me as nothing short of brilliant. The introduction in itself is something of a masterpiece: I found myself underlining almost every other sentence. He writes an exceptionally lucid and companionable prose, full of insights. I particularly liked his view of Seneca's plays as "lyrical tragedy," in which "the dramatic excitement...is located in the language." The translation of the play itself is clear and eminently readable. Gioia has rediscovered Seneca for us (or at least for me), as a figure at the center of western culture. I had a little bit of the giddy feeling the Humanists must have experienced in rediscovering the classics. Perhaps we need something similar today in response to Artificial Intelligence: a renewed focus on what might be called "Lyrical Intelligence."
This is great to see. I've had a copy of The Madness of Hercules ever since Dana sent it to me when it was first published. I was looking forward to the staged reading, and it was hard for me to miss it when I couldn't make it to the Artists and Art Lovers Retreat at the last minute. At least through what you wrote I have a glimpse of what I missed. And I appreciate the insights from the reviews you posted, including the one from TheophilusEsgargot (LovedbyGodSnail?). Looking forward to the next post with quotes.
Thank you, this is wonderful. Will definitely buy the book. I recently tried to compare the Phaedra of Euripides, Seneca and Racine simply as an exercise in cross cultural comparison. This will fit right in.
Dana Gioia's Seneca: The Madness of Hercules strikes me as nothing short of brilliant. The introduction in itself is something of a masterpiece: I found myself underlining almost every other sentence. He writes an exceptionally lucid and companionable prose, full of insights. I particularly liked his view of Seneca's plays as "lyrical tragedy," in which "the dramatic excitement...is located in the language." The translation of the play itself is clear and eminently readable. Gioia has rediscovered Seneca for us (or at least for me), as a figure at the center of western culture. I had a little bit of the giddy feeling the Humanists must have experienced in rediscovering the classics. Perhaps we need something similar today in response to Artificial Intelligence: a renewed focus on what might be called "Lyrical Intelligence."
This is great to see. I've had a copy of The Madness of Hercules ever since Dana sent it to me when it was first published. I was looking forward to the staged reading, and it was hard for me to miss it when I couldn't make it to the Artists and Art Lovers Retreat at the last minute. At least through what you wrote I have a glimpse of what I missed. And I appreciate the insights from the reviews you posted, including the one from TheophilusEsgargot (LovedbyGodSnail?). Looking forward to the next post with quotes.
Thank you, this is wonderful. Will definitely buy the book. I recently tried to compare the Phaedra of Euripides, Seneca and Racine simply as an exercise in cross cultural comparison. This will fit right in.
Who played Hercules? Was Dana the narrator? Do you recall the names of the other actors?