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Charles Paul Segal (March 19, 1936 — January 1, 2002) was an American classicist renowned for his application of critical theory to ancient texts. Although his work spanned a variety of Latin and Greek genres, he is best known for his work on Greek tragedy. His most influential work is Tragedy and Civilization: an Interpretation of Sophocles (1981), in which he presents a structuralist approach to Greek theatre.

Career

Segal graduated from Harvard University in 1957 and, four years later, was awarded a doctorate from the same institution for a 900-page thesis on the philosopher Democritus. He held academic positions at Brown University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania, before returning to his alma mater in 1990. There, he served as the Walter C. Klein Professor of Classics until his death in 2002.

Selected publications

• Tragedy and Civilization: An Interpretation of Sophocles, University of Oklahoma Press, 1981
• Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides' Bacchae, Princeton University Press, 1982
• Orpheus: the Myth of the Poet, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989
• Lucretius on Death and Anxiety, Princeton University Press, 1990

References

1. Charles Segal, 65, Who Viewed The Classics With a Modern Eye. New York Times, January 14, 2002. Retrieved February 9, 2019
2. Mason, P. (1983) 'An Interpretation of Sophocles' in The Classical Review 33, 5–7.
3. Charles Paul Segal. The Harvard Gazette, October 15, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
4. Charles Segal. The Independent, February 13, 2002. Retrieved February 9, 2019.

• Writers from Boston
• Scholars of ancient Greek literature
• 1936 births
• 2002 deaths
• Classical scholars of Harvard University
• Harvard University alumni
• 20th-century American male writers