Monday evening, Oct. 13th Dr. KO Chong-Gossard from University of Melbourne delivered a lecture entitled “Pavane for a Dead Infant: Consolation in Euripides’ Hypsipyle” to a packed house .
Euripides is perhaps best known as an avant-garde playwright whose plays (Medea, Bacchae, Trojan Women) offer powerful female protagonists, bold new handlings of myth and an interest in psychology. Dr Chong-Gossard (Lecturer at the University of Melbourne) introduced us to a lesser known Euripidean tragedy, his Hypsipyle, a play preserved only in fragments. Chong-Gossard is currently working on the
first major study of the Hypsipyle as a work of drama. His lecture explored the theme of
consolation, demonstrating that the play dramatizes consolatory gestures in an innovative
way and makes a bold statement about forgiveness in the face of human tragedy.
I’ve heard many talks on Greek tragedy, but never a lecture on the Hypsipyle. It was quite something to experience this at Gustavus in the company of a crowd of theatre, classics and CII students and faculty: one of those moments that remind you that Gustavus is sometimes the omphalos of the intellectual universe!