Tyrtaeus: A Tragedy - Lajos Walder

Written in the early 1940s under the Nazi reign of terror and set in ancient Sparta during the Second Messenean War in the 7th century BCE, "Tyrtaeus" dramatizes contemporary ethical and political concerns—the brutality of totalitarianism, the precariousness of democracy and human rights, and the sociopolitical role of poetry and art more generally—through the prism of Greek elegiac poet Tyrtaeus’ involvement in the conflict: first as a prisoner of war and, subsequently, as a newly-minted Spartan general who—as decreed by the Delphic Oracle—is ironically destined to lead Sparta to victory.

A perennial play that speaks to all ages.

Upper West Side Philosophers, Inc. 2017, paperback

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lajos Walder (1913–1945): Arguably one of the most significant modern Hungarian poets. A Jewish lawyer by trade, he was barred from practicing due to rising antisemitism and forced into a Hungarian labor battalion. He tragically died in the Gunskirchen concentration camp on the day of its liberation. His family safely preserved his manuscripts, which were later translated into English.