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Every generation appears to reappraise the Greek myths and make them their own. This arises periodically in the collective and seems related to a lived out Neo—Mannerist phase in the culture. Aspects of the socio—cultural changes and developments of the 1980s have perhaps heralded this period and in turn echo the changes in the balance of male and female roles, women's emancipation, re—emergent ‘socialism’ and enlightenment philosophy which occurred in the 1590s, late 1600s, 1790s and 1890s.
This book could be read in the company of The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, and Golding's Double Tongue, to give a late twentieth—century viewpoint on this aspect of classicism. The origin of the work was a series of two lectures given in the 1970s and an essay ‘The tragic hero: an image of individuation’. A generation has elapsed since the lectures and in the interim the author has explored and written on other areas of interest, returning to review his ideas and, from their development, to produce this text. Interestingly the period in which the original lectures were delivered saw a major reappraisal of Greek arts and mythology. Classicism can be seen as a locus of stability and reflection at times following major cultural changes or shifts which seemingly need to be integrated.
The Eternal Drama itself is clear and concisely written in an easy, conversational style. The author hopes that his book ‘will contribute to the assimilation of the rich storehouse of archetypal imagery of Greek mythology to the modern mind’. In this endeavour he has been successful. The book is by its nature brief, concise and covers broad territory; its constructs are only partially, not fully, developed and the basic underlying Greek texts and myths are briefly stated. Each chapter could be developed into a book, such is the power and meaning of the myths and Edinger's full but brief accompanying commentary.
Some of the more interesting aspects of the inner meaning of the myths lie in the internal i