"This is a gem of a book. Few critics would be capable of engaging a significant number of the great tragedies and important theorists of tragedy in such short compass. But Szondi does it in completely remarkable fashion. Not only does this make for captivating reading, it also makes this a virtually ideal teaching tool, for it features the signature of Szondi's writing: great clarity, about complex matters. No one has really replaced Szondi in his role as a theoretically informal interpreter of comparative literature."--Ian Balfour, York University

Peter Szondi (1929-1971) was Professor of Comparative Literature at the Free University in Berlin. He is the author of groundbreaking works on the theory of drama, on literary hermeneutics, on Hölderlin, and on Celan.