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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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From Chorus to Social Voice: Field of Access, Field of Force, and the Transformation of Collective Mediation

Authors: Voss, Sandra;

From Chorus to Social Voice: Field of Access, Field of Force, and the Transformation of Collective Mediation

Abstract

This essay examines the Greek chorus as a theoretical threshold between two modes of mediated presence: the archaic field of access and the modernist field of force. It argues that the chorus should not be understood merely as a decorative commentator, a political voice of the polis, or an archaic survival, but as a collective voice-body capable of organizing access to mythic action, ritual memory, affect, divine pressure, and communal judgment. The essay distinguishes between the chorus’s structural capacity for access and its effective dramatic function. Not every chorus automatically functions as a field of access; the choral function may be strong, partial, displaced, weak, or residual depending on how it mediates between action, memory, performance, and audience. Through readings of Aeschylus’ Suppliants and Agamemnon, with reference to Aristotle’s Poetics and Sappho 31, the essay clarifies how presence becomes available without being possessed. The final sections compare Greek choral mediation with Faulknerian social voice in Absalom, Absalom! and Light in August. In Faulkner, collective mediation no longer appears as an embodied ritual chorus but returns as dispersed social, racial, historical, familial, and syntactic pressure. The essay therefore proposes a transformation from chorus as embodied access to social voice as dispersed force.

Keywords

Agamemnon, Aeschylus, Suppliants, presence without possession, Aristotle's Poetics, Greek tragedy, social voice, William Faulkner, Sappho 31, Greek chorus;, literary theory, Field of Force, Field of Access;

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average