The link between weddings and death—as found in dramas ranging from Romeo and Juliet to Lorca's Blood Wedding—plays a central role in the action of many Greek tragedies. Female characters such as Kassandra, Antigone, and Helen enact and refer to significant parts of wedding and funeral rites, but often in a twisted fashion. Over time the pressure of dramatic events causes the distinctions between weddings and funerals to disappear. In this book, Rush Rehm considers how and why the conflation of the two ceremonies comes to theatrical life in the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophokles, and Euripides. By focusing on the dramatization of important rituals conducted by women in ancient Athenian society, Rehm offers a new perspective on Greek tragedy and the challenges it posed for its audience. The conflation of weddings and funerals, the author argues, unleashes a kind of dramatic alchemy whereby female characters become the bearers of new possibilities. Such as formulation enables the tragedians to explore the limitations of traditional thinking and acting in fifth-century Athens. Rehm finds that when tragic weddings and funerals become confused and perverted, the aftershocks disturb the political and ideological givens of Athenian society, challenging the audience to consider new, and often radically different, directions for their city. Rush Rehm is Assistant Professor of Drama and Classics at Standford University and a free-lance theater director. He is the author of Greek Tragic Theatre (Routledge) and Aeschylus' Oresteia: A Theatre Vision (Hawthorn). Originally published in 1994. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

CRIME & MYSTERY. This is an Apothecary John Rawlings Georgian mystery Apothecary. John Rawlings has travelled to Devon to be by the side of his mistress, Elizabeth di Lorenzi, who is due to give birth to their child. Leaving his shop - and his new carbonated water business - in good hands, John is presented with a surprise on his arrival at Sidmouth Bay. While Elizabeth is recuperating, he learns that Lady Sidmouth's daughter, Miranda, is to marry the Earl of St Austell, who is fifty-four years her senior. The Earl has a cruel reputation and John feels that no good will come of this unlikely match. As the wedding day approaches, John feels increasingly uneasy, and he is especially mindful of a vision his daughter, Rose, had about an evil old woman who may do him harm. Before too long John's fears are confirmed, and he soon finds himself at the centre of a murderous plot that must be unravelled ...

A newly single woman discovers that small-town grudges die hard in a series debut that “had me in its spell from page one” (Leslie Meier, New York Times bestselling author). After dumping her cheating fiancé and cancelling the wedding, Mallory Shepard can't bear another disaster. So when the former bride-to-be unexpectedly inherits Thistle Park, a ramshackle mansion in her ex's hometown of Port Quincy, Pennsylvania, it's a problem she can't afford—literally. Abound with stray cats, peeling wallpaper, and nosy neighbors, Mallory is dying to sell it off—once she finally fixes up both the place and her messy life . . . Turns out, Thistle Park has its charms. But the honeymoon phase is abruptly cut short when an unwanted visitor is found dead on the front lawn. Enlisting the help of her sister Rachel, Mallory vows to unveil the killer before she herself becomes married to the suspect list . . . “I had great fun reading the adventures of nouveau sleuth Mallory Shepard as she wrangles corpses, kittens, and a cheating fiancé in this charming debut mystery.” —Laura Levine, author of the Jaine Austen Mysteries “[A] cozy combination of mystery, romance, and recipes, with a little extra bite supplied by the timely fracking controversy.” —Kirkus Reviews