Portrayals of Antigone in Portugal gathers a collection of essays on the Portuguese drama rewritings of this Theban myth produced in the 20th and 21st centuries. For each of the cases analysed, the Portuguese historical, political and cultural context is described. This perspective is expanded through a dialogue with coeval European events. As concerns Portugal, this results principally in political and feminist approaches to the texts. Since the importation of the Sophoclean model is often indirect, the volume includes comparisons with intermediate sources, namely French (Cocteau, Anouilh) and Spanish (María Zambrano), which were extremely influential on the many and diversified versions written in Portugal during this period.

This book explores the figure of Antigone and her many reconceptualizations from antiquity to the present. One of the most popular heroines of classical literature, Antigone defied political authority to carry out the forbidden burial of her brother. Readers will become familiar with the key themes of Antigone’s story, such as the law and politics, gender, and death, tracing their survival and transformations over time. Notably, the book explores the thorough de-politicization of the heroine in philosophy and psychoanalysis, followed by a reversal and re-politicization through feminist and socio-political theories. It provides a useful tool to approach postmodern receptions of Antigone in the arts and society in the modern era, particularly in the contexts of occupied and civil war-era Greece, in Palestine, and in Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon. It also addresses issues of Antigone-like struggles of individuals or collectivities to overcome obstacles of systemic and racialized violence and gender-based oppression in the 21st century, while challenging heteronormative practices and policies to allow new subjectivities to emerge. Though Antigone’s story is complex, Karakantza provides an accessible, fascinating overview of this enduring figure’s legacy and impact over the course of history. Antigone provides a comprehensive study of this classical heroine, suitable for students and scholars of classical literature, reception studies, and gender studies. It also appeals to theatre practitioners interested in adapting and staging Sophocles’ Antigone, or any Antigone of the ancient sources.

This book includes 21 chapters dedicated to the study of contemporary, Portuguese and Brazilian poets influenced by the Greco-Roman tradition. It integrates the international bibliography on reception studies in an Ibero-American context. However, the comparison between poets from the two countries highlights the cultural community that, despite the differences, unites them. Travels, routes, and adventures, taken in a linear or symbolic sense, are the common trace of all contributions. The variety of tastes, the greater or smaller closeness to the ancient models, and the authors’ preferences contribute to an overall view of the classical imprint on contemporary poetry as a specific area of literature.

This volume presents a survey of the reception of Greek myths - including Antigone, Medea, the Trojan cycle, and Alcestis - in Brazilian literature and stage performance. The collection addresses the work of many innovative authors, some of them great names of Brazilian literature, such as Jorge Andrade and Nelson Rodrigues, who are influential in this specific area of classical reception and well known by modern audiences. This unique volume is the product of collaboration of many scholars with different affiliations under the coordination of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte), two of the most prestigious universities in Brazil for the study of Classical and Reception Studies.

The theme of Medea in Portuguese literature has mainly given rise to the writing of new plays on the subject. The central episode in the Portuguese rewritings in the last two centuries is the one that takes place in Corinth, i.e., the break between Medea and Jason, on the one hand, and Medea’s killing of their children in retaliation, on the other. Besides the complex play of feelings that provides this episode with very real human emotions, gender was a key issue in determining the interest that this story elicited in a society in search of social renovation, after profound political transformations – during the transition between dictatorship and democracy which happened in 1974 – that generated instability and established a requirement to find alternative rules of social intercourse in the path towards a new Portugal.

This unique collection explores the complex issue of vigilantism, how it is represented in popular culture, and what is its impact on behavior and the implications for the rule of law. The book is a transnational investigation across a range of eleven different jurisdictions, including accounts of the Anglophone world (Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States), European experiences (Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, and Portugal), and South American jurisdictions (Argentina and Brazil). The essays, written by prominent international scholars in law, sociology, criminology, and media studies, present data, historical and recent examples of vigilantism; examine the national Laws and jurisprudence; and focus on the broad theme of vigilante justice in popular culture (literature, films, television). Vigilante Justice in Society and Popular Culture sheds light on this topic offering a detailed look beyond the Anglophone world. This collection will enrich the debate by adding the opportunity for comparison which has been largely lacking in scholarly debate. As such, it will appeal not only to scholars of law, sociology, criminology, and media studies, but also to all those who are engaged with these topics alike.

This book adds to an international bibliography specialised on the reception of Homer, including studies on Portuguese, Spanish, Brazilian and Argentinian authors (from the 19th to the 21st century) articulated by a common perspective, Homeric motifs, and differentiated by literary genre, that is, theatre, poetry, novel, and short story. Well-known and lesser-known names from the literatures being analysed also contribute to the novelty of the set. The contributors are researchers from each of the countries with a specific and well-informed vision of each context. Organising the volume according to these genres encourages historical and cultural comparisons of countries with a long tradition in common. Each analysis is always framed within its cultural context. Due to its characteristics, this volume serves an audience with different expectations, related to Classical Studies, Literary Theory and Portuguese and Spanish Language Literatures, Theatrical Studies, History of Culture, and Postcolonial Studies.