The Mortal Voice in the Tragedies of Aeschylus

Voice connects our embodied existence with the theoretical worlds we construct. This book argues that the voice is a crucial element of mortal identity in the tragedies of Aeschylus. It first presents conceptions of the voice in ancient Greek poetry and philosophy, understanding it in its most literal and physical form, as well as through the many metaphorical connotations that spring from it. Close readings then show how the tragedies and fragments of Aeschylus gain meaning from the rubric and performance of voice, concentrating particularly on the Oresteia. Sarah Nooter demonstrates how voice - as both a bottomless metaphor and performative agent of action - stands as the prevailing configuration through which Aeschylus' dramas should be heard. This highly original book will interest all those interested in classical literature as well as those concerned with material approaches to the interpretation of texts.

Introduction; 1. Voice, body, stage; 2. Voice in early Aeschylean drama and Aristophanic parody; 3. Voice and ventriloquism in Agamemnon; 4. Voice and the mother in Choephori; 5. Voice and the monstrous in Eumenides.

Sarah Nooter is Associate Professor in Classics and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. She is the author of When Heroes Sing: Sophocles and the Shifting Soundscape of Tragedy (Cambridge, 2012) and co-editor of Sound and the Ancient Senses (forthcoming).