Dana Gioia on Seneca and The Madness of Hercules (Episode 74)

Want to become more Stoic? Join us and other Stoics this October: Stoicism Applied by Caleb Ontiveros and Michael Tremblay on Maven [http://stoameditation.com/course] "The central theme of Seneca's tragedies is how to endure a world in which there is no justice, no safety, no guarantees—political or divine—of human dignity." For this episode, I went to Sonoma County, California to speak with the poet Dana Gioia. Seneca was a brilliant philosopher and statesman, but not many know he was also a world-class playwright. Dana Gioia is changing that. Our conversation focuses on Dana's translation of Seneca's The Madness of Hercules but also covers Dana's story, Stoicism, and much more. https://danagioia.com/ https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p131/seneca-the-madness-of-hercules-translate-by-dana-gioia.html (02:19) Dana's Story (13:29) Choosing Art Over Material Success (19:30) Seneca Enters the Picture (32:02) The Madness of Hercules (38:25) The Value in Seneca's Violence (44:44) Reading The Play (51:21) Reading vs Listening vs Seeing (57:59) Bacchus (59:55) Seneca the Playwright vs Seneca the Philosopher (01:07:31) Seneca on Anger (01:14:26) Stoicism Today (01:21:11) Fasting (01:29:05) Final Words Note: I had use backup audio for 1:02 to 1:08. You'll notice a slight decline in audio quality for those 6 minutes. *** Subscribe to The Stoa Letter for weekly meditations, actions, and links to the best Stoic resources: www.stoaletter.com/subscribe [http://www.stoaletter.com/subscribe] Download the Stoa app (it's a free download): stoameditation.com/pod [http://stoameditation.com/pod] If you try the Stoa app and find it useful, but truly cannot afford it, email us and we'll set you up with a free account. Listen to more episodes and learn more here: https://stoameditation.com/blog/stoa-conversations/ Thanks to Michael Levy for graciously letting us use his music in the conversations: https://ancientlyre.com/