If Greek tragedies are meant to be so tragic why do they so often end so well? Here starts the
story of a long and incredible misunderstanding. Out of the hundreds of tragedies that were
performed only 32 were preserved in full. Who chose them and why? Why are the lost ones never
taken into account? This extremely unusual scholarly book tells us an Umberto Eco-like story
about the lost tragedies. By arguing that they would have given a radically different picture
William Marx makes us think in completely new ways about one of the major achievements of
Western culture. In this very readable stimulating lively and even sometimes funny book he
explores parallels with Japanese theatre resolves the enigma of catharsis sheds a new light
on psychoanalysis. In so doing he tells also the story of the misreadings of our modernity
which disconnected art from the body the place and gods. Two centuries ago philosophers
transformed Greek tragedies into an ideal archetype now they want to read them as self-help
handbooks but all are equally wrong: Greek tragedy is definitely not what you think and we
may never understand it but this makes it matter all the more to us.
