Classics and the Postcolonial – serie

This is the first book to study how Haitian authors – from independence in 1804 to the modern Haitian diaspora – have adapted Greco-Roman material and harnessed it to Haiti’s legacy as the world’s first anti-colonial nation-state.In nine chronologically organized chapters built around individual Haitian authors, Hawkins takes readers on a journey through one strand of Haitian literary history that draws on material from ancient Greece and Rome. This cross-disciplinary exploration is composed in a way that invites all readers to discover a rich and exciting cultural exchange that foregrounds the variety of ways that Haitian authors have ‘hacked classical forms’ as part of their creative process. Students of ancient Mediterranean cultures will learn about a branch of the Greco-Roman legacy that has never been deeply explored. Experts in Caribbean culture will find a robust register of Haitian literature that will enrich familiar texts. And those interested in anti-colonial movements will encounter a host of examples of artists creatively engaging with literary monuments from the past in ways that always keep the Haitian experience in central focus.Written in a broadly accessible style, Hacking Classical Forms in Haitian Literature appeals to anyone interested in Haiti, Haitian literature and history, anti-colonial literature, or classical reception studies.

Winner of the ASTR Translation Prize 2023. Winner of CAMWS' 2024 Bolchazy Pedagogy Award.This book brings to English readers, in its entirety for the first time, a translation of José Watanabe’s Antígona, accompanied by the original Spanish text and critical essays.The lack of availability in English has resulted in the absence of Antígona from important Anglophone studies devoted specifically to the reception of ancient Greek tragedy in the Americas. Pérez Díaz's translation fills this gap. The introduction provides the performative, political, and historical contexts in which the text was written in collaboration with the actress Teresa Ralli, from the Peruvian theater group Yuyachkani, who also originally performed it. Following the bilingual text, a critical essay provides an analysis of textual aspects of Antígona that have been disregarded, situating it in relation to Sophocles' Antigone and in conversation with relevant moments of the vast traditions of reception of the Greek tragedy. An appendix briefly surveys some notable productions of the play throughout Latin America.This comprehensive volume provides an invaluable resource for readers interested in José Watanabe's work, students and scholars working on classical reception and Latin American literature and theatre, as well as theatre practitioners.

Winner of the ASTR Translation Prize 2023. Winner of CAMWS' 2024 Bolchazy Pedagogy Award.This book brings to English readers, in its entirety for the first time, a translation of José Watanabe’s Antígona, accompanied by the original Spanish text and critical essays.The lack of availability in English has resulted in the absence of Antígona from important Anglophone studies devoted specifically to the reception of ancient Greek tragedy in the Americas. Pérez Díaz's translation fills this gap. The introduction provides the performative, political, and historical contexts in which the text was written in collaboration with the actress Teresa Ralli, from the Peruvian theater group Yuyachkani, who also originally performed it. Following the bilingual text, a critical essay provides an analysis of textual aspects of Antígona that have been disregarded, situating it in relation to Sophocles' Antigone and in conversation with relevant moments of the vast traditions of reception of the Greek tragedy. An appendix briefly surveys some notable productions of the play throughout Latin America.This comprehensive volume provides an invaluable resource for readers interested in José Watanabe's work, students and scholars working on classical reception and Latin American literature and theatre, as well as theatre practitioners.

This interdisciplinary volume explores the ancient Greek myth of Medea and its global analogues found in other mythic and folk tales of deadly, exiled women, such as those of La Malinche and La Llorona, examining the connections between these figures and their depictions from antiquity to modernity.The book considers the figure of the foreign woman, her exile, fratricide, and infanticide, in its ancient Greek form and in global, postcolonial receptions in a range of media, including drama, film, novels, and the visual arts. The chapters illuminate the contradictions of considering the classical Medea as a central reference point for analysis of other female figures from peripheral territories, while simultaneously acknowledging the insights that such comparisons can yield. Emphasizing the ways in which Medea’s seditious nature enables the establishment of an extensive and heterogeneous intertextual network with other mythic characters who represent a similarly disruptive role in their specific local historical and cultural contexts, the book argues for a comparative analysis that is equally attentive to myths and folk tales from all regions. These essays – by scholars of classics, comparative and world literatures, and postcolonial studies – represent a plurality of perspectives from different academic contexts in Africa, Latin America, North America, and Europe and examine how different cultures have depicted women, foreigners, crime, and abjection. The foundations of Greek myth and subsequently of the classical tradition itself are interrogated from a postcolonial perspective. In tracing the portrayals of Medea and other mythic women through the overlapping features of different female characters and plots, and intertwining local cultural and literary materials with broader debates, this volume challenges Eurocentric narratives of power and cultural domination, and works to decentralize the discussion of Medea from the exclusive domain of classical studies.Medea’s Long Shadow in Postcolonial Contexts will be of interest to students and scholars working on Greek tragedy and its reception, as well as to those studying postcolonial and global approaches to literature, culture, and gender studies.

This interdisciplinary volume explores the ancient Greek myth of Medea and its global analogues found in other mythic and folk tales of deadly, exiled women, such as those of La Malinche and La Llorona, examining the connections between these figures and their depictions from antiquity to modernity.The book considers the figure of the foreign woman, her exile, fratricide, and infanticide, in its ancient Greek form and in global, postcolonial receptions in a range of media, including drama, film, novels, and the visual arts. The chapters illuminate the contradictions of considering the classical Medea as a central reference point for analysis of other female figures from peripheral territories, while simultaneously acknowledging the insights that such comparisons can yield. Emphasizing the ways in which Medea’s seditious nature enables the establishment of an extensive and heterogeneous intertextual network with other mythic characters who represent a similarly disruptive role in their specific local historical and cultural contexts, the book argues for a comparative analysis that is equally attentive to myths and folk tales from all regions. These essays – by scholars of classics, comparative and world literatures, and postcolonial studies – represent a plurality of perspectives from different academic contexts in Africa, Latin America, North America, and Europe and examine how different cultures have depicted women, foreigners, crime, and abjection. The foundations of Greek myth and subsequently of the classical tradition itself are interrogated from a postcolonial perspective. In tracing the portrayals of Medea and other mythic women through the overlapping features of different female characters and plots, and intertwining local cultural and literary materials with broader debates, this volume challenges Eurocentric narratives of power and cultural domination, and works to decentralize the discussion of Medea from the exclusive domain of classical studies.Medea’s Long Shadow in Postcolonial Contexts will be of interest to students and scholars working on Greek tragedy and its reception, as well as to those studying postcolonial and global approaches to literature, culture, and gender studies.

This is the first book to study how Haitian authors – from independence in 1804 to the modern Haitian diaspora – have adapted Greco-Roman material and harnessed it to Haiti’s legacy as the world’s first anti-colonial nation-state.In nine chronologically organized chapters built around individual Haitian authors, Hawkins takes readers on a journey through one strand of Haitian literary history that draws on material from ancient Greece and Rome. This cross-disciplinary exploration is composed in a way that invites all readers to discover a rich and exciting cultural exchange that foregrounds the variety of ways that Haitian authors have ‘hacked classical forms’ as part of their creative process. Students of ancient Mediterranean cultures will learn about a branch of the Greco-Roman legacy that has never been deeply explored. Experts in Caribbean culture will find a robust register of Haitian literature that will enrich familiar texts. And those interested in anti-colonial movements will encounter a host of examples of artists creatively engaging with literary monuments from the past in ways that always keep the Haitian experience in central focus.Written in a broadly accessible style, Hacking Classical Forms in Haitian Literature appeals to anyone interested in Haiti, Haitian literature and history, anti-colonial literature, or classical reception studies.

This anthology gathers together for the first time, both in Spanish and in new English translation, a carefully chosen selection of prominent adaptations of Greek tragedy by Cuban playwrights from the dawn of the Revolution to the present day.Spanning over eight decades (late 1940s-early 2020s), these eight pioneering plays rework ancient Greek myth to address the dilemmas of life in twentieth and twenty-first century Cuba and among the wider Cuban diaspora. Comprising compelling and at times contrasting mixtures of Cuban and Hellenic elements, these adaptations represent a rich tradition of engagement with ancient Greek drama that foregrounds contemporary Cuban social and political realities.Presented in a bilingual format, both in the original Spanish and a facing English translation, this anthology makes these innovative texts accessible to scholars, teachers, and students of multiple disciplines including Classics, Theatre & Performance Studies, and Spanish, Caribbean, & Latin American Studies.

This anthology gathers together for the first time, both in Spanish and in new English translation, a carefully chosen selection of prominent adaptations of Greek tragedy by Cuban playwrights from the dawn of the Revolution to the present day.Spanning over eight decades (late 1940s-early 2020s), these eight pioneering plays rework ancient Greek myth to address the dilemmas of life in twentieth and twenty-first century Cuba and among the wider Cuban diaspora. Comprising compelling and at times contrasting mixtures of Cuban and Hellenic elements, these adaptations represent a rich tradition of engagement with ancient Greek drama that foregrounds contemporary Cuban social and political realities.Presented in a bilingual format, both in the original Spanish and a facing English translation, this anthology makes these innovative texts accessible to scholars, teachers, and students of multiple disciplines including Classics, Theatre & Performance Studies, and Spanish, Caribbean, & Latin American Studies.

This volume explores Mexican dramatic receptions of Sophocles' Antigone from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, investigating the thematic evolution of Antigone in Mexico and its cumulative impact on Mexican heritage discourse.The book focuses on three works in particular: José Fuentes Mares’ La Joven Antígona se va a la Guerra (1968), Olga Harmony’s La Ley de Creón (1984), and Perla de la Rosa’s Antígona: las voces que incendian el desierto (2004). These plays, examined within the context of other Mexican adaptations, represent pivotal moments in the development of Mexican reception of Antigone, each corresponding to a specific change in the character of Mexico’s engagement with Antigone as a factor of shifting sociopolitical issues. The Antigones of Mexico challenge projects of national mythmaking, social and gender roles, as well as societal failings and cultural apathies, transforming a cultural imposition into a veritable exemplar of Mexican heritage that voices the grievances of specific and highly localized communities.Antigone a la Mexicana is suitable for scholars and students in Classics, Classical Receptions, Latin American Studies, Theatre, and Post-Colonial Studies. Mexicanists and scholars of Mexican historiography will also find this book of interest.