French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Zanobi, Seneca's Tragedies and the Aesthetics of Pantomime
Theatre and Performance

Review published in Acta Fabula (October 2017, vol. 18, no. 8): "Special Issue: The Conditions of Theater: State of Research": Maxime Pierre, Seneca and Pantomime: The Spectacular Rediscovered?

Alessandra Zanobi, Seneca's Tragedies and the Aesthetics of Pantomime

London, Oxford, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.

EAN 9781472512635

Price: £28.99

Overview:

Pantomime was arguably the most popular dramatic genre during the Roman Empire, but has been relatively neglected by literary critics.

Seneca's Tragedies and the Aesthetics of Pantomime adds to our understanding of Seneca's tragic art by demonstrating that elements which have long puzzled scholars can be attributed to the influence of pantomime. The work argues that certain formal features which depart from the conventions of fifth-century Attic drama can be explained by the influence of, and interaction with, this more popular genre.
The work includes a detailed and systematic analysis of the specific pantomime-inspired features of Seneca's tragedies: the loose dramatic structure, the presence of “running commentaries” (minute descriptions of characters undergoing emotional strains or performing specific actions), of monologues of self-analysis, and of narrative set-pieces.

Relevant to Roman imperial culture more generally, Seneca's Tragedies and the Aesthetics of Pantomime includes an outline of the general features of pantomime as a genre. The work shows that the influence of sub-literary genres such as pantomime and mime, the sister art of pantomime, can be traced in several Roman writers whose literary production was antecedent or contemporary with Seneca's. Furthermore, the work sheds light on the interaction between sub-literary genres of a performative nature such as mime and pantomime and more literary ones, an aspect of Latin culture which previous scholarship has tended to overlook.

Seneca's Tragedies and the Aesthetics of Pantomime provides an original contribution to the understanding of the impact of pantomime on Roman literary culture and of controversial and little-understood features of Senecan tragedies.

Table of contents

Introduction
Chapter 1: Pantomime in the Ancient World
Chapter 2: Pantomime and the structure of Seneca's tragedies
Chapter 3: Pantomime and descriptive running commentaries
Chapter 4: Monologues of self-analysis
Chapter 5: Pantomime and descriptive narrative set-pieces of Seneca's tragedies
Conclusion

Roman imperial culture fostered a vibrant landscape of performative arts in which popular entertainments often intersected with canonical literature. Within this broader theatrical context, genres such as mime and pantomime held a prominent place in public life, yet their formal impact on dramatic texts has frequently received less critical attention than fifth-century Attic models. Alessandra Zanobi explores how these sub-literary performance traditions interacted with high literary production, shedding light on dynamic exchanges that shaped classical aesthetics during the period.

Readers interested in the performance practices of the Roman Empire and classical dramatic forms may find this study relevant. The volume examines specific formal features in Seneca's tragedies, such as loose dramatic structures, descriptive running commentaries, monologues of self-analysis, and narrative set-pieces. By outlining the general characteristics of pantomime and tracing its influence across multiple Roman writers antecedent or contemporary to Seneca, the work contributes to our understanding of ancient theatrical culture and the reception of Senecan drama.