SOURCE: An introduction to Studies in French-Classical Tragedy, The Vanderbilt University Press, 1958, pp. 9–26.

In the following excerpt, Lockert discusses the weaknesses of several critics' assessments of French neo-classical tragedies and argues that greater consideration should be given to the works of minor dramatists of the time.

R. C. Knight on the definition of tragedy:

[Tragedy is a] dramatic action in which personages above the common have to react to a situation above the common, in that it involves a danger usually of death. This is a minimal definition [of tragedy], a highest common factor. The results can be minimal—can be trivial, in fact; all depends on the use made of the latitude given; and latitude is vital for any genre which is to be popular and longlived. A strict formula admits of only a restricted number of solutions; the formula I have proposed is a good deal...