Books in the Symploke Studies in Contemporary Theory series

From German idealism onward, Western thinkers have sought to revalue tragedy, invariably converging at one cardinal point: tragic art risks aestheticizing real violence. Tragically Speaking critically examines this revaluation, offering a new understanding of the changing meaning of tragedy in literary and moral discourse.

Drawing on literary theory and canonical French literature, this book examines unruliness as both an aesthetic category and a mode of reading conceived as ethical response.