Euripides's Orestes and Postcritique

A postcritical approach directs attention to how narratives move audiences, querying experiences of enchantment and wonder, of attachment and love. A relative newcomer to the field of classical studies, postcritique enjoins classicists to diversify the sorts of questions they ask of ancient texts. Euripides's Orestes and Postcritique answers this challenge by exploring Euripides's Orestes with the help of research from outside of classical studies. Building on investigations into popular narrative genres, such as fan fiction, melodrama, and trash, and looking to research in a range of disciplines, from psychology to media studies to empirical aesthetics, this intervention illuminates why Orestes was one of Euripides's most successful plays in antiquity and why it can still captivate readers today. After an initial review of the plot of Orestes and of basic facts about its production, Part 1 introduces postcritique and explains how a postcritical exploration of the play interacts with previous scholarship on Orestes and with current trends in the study of Greek tragedy. The lengthier Part 2 presents a postcritical close reading: it proceeds through a series of twelve points, each exploring a component of Orestes that can generate feelings of enjoyment or appreciation. An epilogue argues for the pedagogical value of a postcritical approach to the play.