Hercules Furens: Tragic Descent into Madness

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“The central theme of Seneca’s tragedies is how to endure a world in which there is no justice, no safety, no guarantees—political or divine—of human dignity.”

For this episode, I went to Sonoma County, California to speak with the poet Dana Gioia.

Seneca was a brilliant philosopher and statesman, but not many know he was also a world-class playwright. Dana Gioia is changing that.

Our conversation focuses on Dana’s translation of Seneca’s The Madness of Hercules but also covers Dana’s story, Stoicism, and much more.

https://danagioia.com/

https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p131/seneca-the-madness-of-hercules-translate-by-dana-gioia.html

(02:19) Dana's Story

(13:29) Choosing Art Over Material Success

(19:30) Seneca Enters the Picture

(32:02) The Madness of Hercules

(38:25) The Value in Seneca's Violence

(44:44) Reading The Play

(51:21) Reading vs Listening vs Seeing

(57:59) Bacchus

(59:55) Seneca the Playwright vs Seneca the Philosopher

(01:07:31) Seneca on Anger

(01:14:26) Stoicism Today

(01:21:11) Fasting

(01:29:05) Final Words

Note: I had use backup audio for 1:02 to 1:08. You’ll notice a slight decline in audio quality for those 6 minutes.

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Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/