Principles of Tragedy - A Rational Examination of the Tragic Concept in Life and Literature

This book originated in a search for a definition either of tragedy or of the main tragic elements which would hold good on various planes and over a wide range of literature and drama. It seemed that if the term 'tragic' had any validity at all when used by a modern commentator it ought to include factors common at least to Sophocles, Shakespeare, Racine, and probably Ibsen and others, irrespective of the difference in their historical and ethical backgrounds. The simple conviction that this should be so runs into truly formidable objections, but the author eventually reached the conclusion that they are not insurmountable providing one confines oneself to essentials.