Bertinoro, 6/13 September 2009

Shadows

Civil War as Disease: Sophocles’ Ajax


In the context of one of the most mythical wars in history, the Trojan War, Sophocles’ play Ajax takes a dramatically distinctive approach to the questions of war, violence, and death, by addressing them as problems affecting the interior of a community, the Achaeans. It is my contention that the metaphorical blindness affecting Ajax is part of a deep reflection on the status of the polis and the civil war that tears it apart.
Lecture in English
Helena Buescu
University of Lisbon

Helena Buescu is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Lisboa (Faculdade de Letras). Her main areas of interest focus on Comparative Literature and the construction of modernity (18th-20th centuries). She regularly collaborates with different Universities in Europe, Brazil and USA. She has published ten books, among which she co-edited A Revisionary History of Portuguese Literature (Garland, 1999), O Grande Terramoto de Lisboa. Ficar Diferente (Gradiva, 2005) and Emendar a Morte. Pactos em Literatura (Campo das Letras, 2008). She co-edited Stories and Portraits of the Self (Rodopi, 2007). She is founder Director of the Centre for Comparative Studies. She is a member of Academia Europaea.