Through a study of the evolution of inheritance issues in seventeen tragedies written over the course of half a century the Corneille brothers, Pierre and Thomas, and by Jean Racine, Richard E. Goodkin questions the pervasive assumption that classical tragedy, a form written for the aristocracy, is informed exclusively by an aristocratic ethic.
Instead, a fresh reading of both canonical and noncanonical texts demonstrates that even the most formal body of literature produced by French classical writers expresses a conflict between a declining aristocratic hierarchy based on inherited privilege and a rising capitalistic ethic that favors competition and enterprise.
| ISBN: | 9780812235500 |
| Publication date: | 6th July 2000 |
| Author: | Richard E Goodkin |
| Publisher: | University of Pennsylvania Press an imprint of University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 281 pages |
| Series: | New Cultural Studies |
| Genres: |
Literature: history and criticism |