This article examines the twentieth-century adaptation ofSophocles’ Antigone by Jean Anouilh (1944). Written during the German Occupation of France, Anouilh’s Antigone produced controversial and indeedopposite interpretations. Some critics found overt political allusions in theplay, arguing with equal fervour that it was pro-Resistance or collaborationist,whereas the author claimed political ignorance. Through a close analysis ofthe text and the historical context in which it was written, the article wishes toprovide a new interpretation of the play and its reception. By focusing on keyterms and iconic lines as well as on crucial divergences from the Greek original, I highlight the open-textured and ideologically ambiguous nature of theplay. The “neutrality” of the author, the self-conscious game with reality andthe desacralisation of the tragedy contributed to shift the focus onto the intimate and personal, rather than the political, conflicts of the Greek original.
