Paradise Lost: Janusz Głowackis Antigone in New York und Dea Lohers Manhattan Medea

Małgorzata Dubrowska

Małgorzata Dubrowska The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities

Keywords: Janusz Głowacki; Dea Loher; Greek mythology; modern drama

Abstract

In this article, describing the two contemporary dramas written by European writers (Glowacki, Loher), the author is paying a particular attention to the two women that were listed in the titles of these dramas-Antigone and Medea. Both were placed in the neo-contemporary re-reading of their antique prototypes (written by Sophocles and Euripides), now both of them are residents of New York City, illegal immigrants with a baggage of tragic life events, they are defeated in the world of new ideas and plans. Multiethnic New York City, a “promised land” for the thousands of immigrants, portrayed by the two dramatists, appears to be a lost paradise, a cursed place, metropolis that is ruled by the tough business laws. Both protagonists fail, they lose paramount principles: hope and love.

References

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