Abstract

Abstract:

This article presents an analysis of the genre of the satyr play through the conjunction of its single extant example—Euripides' Cyclops—and the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Levinas maintains that Ulysses' craft (μῆτις or "cunning intelligence")—on display in the ruses perpetrated against the titular monster—is the essence of war. Yet through Marcel Detienne and Jean-Pierre Vernant's interpretations of "cunning intelligence," as well as comparisons of Levinas's positions with those of Nietzsche and Plato, an alternative view is available, one that would recast Ulysses' craft as the cunning necessary to manifest the infinity of peace within the totality of war. As middle terms between ancient Greek tragedy and comedy, Cyclops and the genre of the satyr play to which it belongs perform this ethical mediation. Ulysses' craft is thus also Euripides' craft: the craft of the satyr play, and even of the dramatic as such.

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