Tragedy is said to be universal in the sense that human beings everywhere know what it might mean to suffer, to be in pain, to desire, to reproduce, to fear death, to exist in time, to be a sexed being, to be a child, to be a parent. And yet, as an artistic form, tragedy is a highly specific affair which flourished at particular moments in European history. Western writers and critics might for centuries have viewed tragedy as central to their cultural tradition, but for as long, they have also wondered whether tragedy might have actually disappeared, and if so, exactly why it disappeared. Tragedy presents a pessimistic vision in which humans are reminded of their absolute powerlessness in the face of a cruel, unrelenting fate. Rationalist optimism, belief in human progress and religious consolation are anathema to tragedy — so the story goes — because rather than holding that the core of human life is unfathomable suffering, they suggest that all mysteries are susceptible to explanation. This talk will probe various theories of tragedy to show how this vital genre continues to raise ethical and aesthetic questions to do with suffering, sacrifice, futurity, finitude and tragic consolation that both speak to their own historical moment and extend their relevance to our own times.