Grandi tragedie, piccoli lettori. Un sondaggio

Abstract

The subject of the essay is the rewriting of the Greek tragedy for small readers: why do Antigone, Medea, Oedipus, Tiresias and other characters live successfully again? Which narrations and characters succeed more in the publishing industry recently? Which are the contents and writing styles used? The essay wants to reply to these questions, starting from what Gianni Rodari claimed in his Grammatica della fantasia (1973): the Italian writer invited to read again the tradition with an estranged point of view, in order to get to the today-called prequel, sequel, spin-off. Are these products «wrong stories» compared to the tradition? Or are these rewritings really successful?