The Greek Tragedy in Contemporary Theatre: an Analysis of Wajdi Mouawad’s "Incendies"

Abstract

The present study focuses on the analysis of contemporary literature which has a textual formality that is forged, both structurally and, in a sense, thematically, by the fundamental aspects of classical Greek tragedy. In order to do this, we would take the example of Incendies, the work of the Lebanese playwright Wajdi Mouawad, where autobiographical hints are interspersed with sources of classical Greek tragedy, the most evident of which is the one of Oedipus Rex; that is to say the relation between the mother and the son and the discovery of the Truth, which already appears in Aristotle’s Poetics. We also find the case of Cadmo and the search for a kidnapped family member and the importance of learning the language so as to understand the events that take place.