Latinx Reception of Greek Tragic Myth: Healing (and) Radical Politics

Description

A compelling contribution to the largely understudied field of Latinx theatre, this book unpacks new developments in the Latinx and American cultural landscape registered by contemporary plays inspired and based on Greek tragic myths. It examines dramatic revisions of the myths of Medea, Oedipus, Electra, and Iphigenia by notable playwrights Carlos Morton, Cherríe Moraga, Luis Alfaro, and Caridad Svich for what they reveal about the increasingly complex, diverse, and globalized Latinidades of the post-Civil Rights Movement era. Through its discussion of six Greek-inflected mythoplays, the book brings to light emergent and transhemispheric dimensions taken on by mestizaje; the latter construed as an ethos, reality, and discourse central to any conception of Latinidad, however plural. Mestizaje is shown to be tuned to a tragic key in the theatrical corpus of works on which the analysis focuses, and it is to this tragic key that the book attributes the works’ singular sociocultural and political import. Emphasis is placed on the tragic mode as a rich source and potent ally in the plays’ attempt at configuring and applying a distinct kind of radical politics and a healing function while targeting, principally but not exclusively, Latinx communities of/in crisis―including barrio, LGBTQ+, and borderland communities. By aligning the plays’ decolonizing impulse with the productive question mark of the tragic, the book calls attention to the brisk energy that the tragic myth’s reception by Latinx theatre infuses into the afterlife of the tragic, as it breaks new, syncretic ground in the latter’s reception history and contemporary rethinking. Cover Copyright information Contents Acknowledgements Prolegomena Mestizx Mythopoesis I. In Lieu of a Preface II. From Pre-colonial Myths to Post-colonial Mitos and Beyond III. The Greek Mythos of the New Mitos IV. Latinx Mythoplays and the Tragic Mode V. Setting Down Methodological Caveats VI. Overview of the Chapters Chapter 1 The Tragic Mode: Modus Politicus, Modus Vivendi I. Introduction to the Tragic II. Building on the Tragic Opus III. The Tragic and the Political IV. The Tragic and the Therapeutic V. In Lieu of a Conclusion Part One Mestizx Medeas Chapter 2 La Malinche32 I. Setting the Stage II. La Malinche: Medea as an Aztec Vigilante III. Uncovering/Recovering from the Colonial Wound Chapter 3 The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea42 I. Setting the Stage II. The Hungry Woman: Medea as a Mexican “Huerfana Abandonada” III. Acts of Birthing/Acts of Killing as Acts of Healing Chapter 4 Mojada55 I. Setting the Stage II. Mojada: Medea as a Traumatized “El Guaco” III. Mojada as Social Theatre and as Therapy Part Two Mestizo Oedipus Chapter 5 Oedipus el Rey I. Setting the Stage II. Oedipus: Oedipus as a “Destined. / To be. / Destined” Homeboy III. Oedipus el Rey as Social Theatre and as Therapy Part Three Tragic Daughters I: Mestiza Electra Chapter 6 Electricidad70 I. Setting the Stage II. Electricidad: Electra as a Barrio-Bound “Old School Chola” III. Electricidad as Social Theatre and as Therapy Part Four Tragic Daughters II: Mestiza Iphigenia Chapter 7 Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart: A “Rave” Fable80 I. Setting the Stage II. Iphigenia Crash: Iphigenia as an Old Victim for a New Age III. Healing and the Politics of Love Epilegomena Works Cited Index