|
"This volume sets out to discuss a crucial question for ancient comedy - what makes Aristophanes funny? Too often Aristophanes' humour is taken for granted as merely a tool for the delivery of political and social commentary. But Greek Old Comedy was above all else designed to amuse people, to win the dramatic competition by making the audience laugh the hardest. Any discussion of Aristophanes therefore needs to take into account the ways in which his humour actually works. This question is addressed in two ways. The first half of the volume offers an in-depth discussion of humour theory - a field heretofore largely overlooked by classicists and Aristophanists - examining various theoretical models within the specific context of Aristophanes' eleven extant plays. In the second half, contributors explore Aristophanic humour more practically, examining how specific linguistic techniques and performative choices affect the reception of humour, and exploring the range of subjects Aristophanes tackles as vectors for his comedy. A focus on performance shapes the narrative, since humour lives or dies on the stage - it is never wholly comprehensible on the page alone."-- List of Illustrations -- List of Contributors -- Preface -- Introduction: Dissecting the Frog(s) (Peter Swallow, King's College London, UK) -- Part 1: Theory 2. Beyond a Joke: Making Humour Theory Work with Aristophanes (N.J. Lowe, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) 3. Play as Shared Psychological Register: Paidi ̀, Laughter and Aristophanes (Edith Hall, King's College London, UK) -- 4. Aristophanic Incongruities (Craig Jendza, University of Kansas, USA) -- 5. Laughter, or Aristophanes' Joy in the Face of Death (Mario Tel,̣ UC Berkeley, USA) -- 6. Laughter and Collective Trauma in Aristophanic Comedy (Pavlos Sfyroeras, Middlebury College, USA) -- 7. The Satirist as Troll?: Sociopathic Strains in Aristophanes (Ralph M. Rosen, University of Pennsylvania, USA) -- 8. The Hilarious Politics of the Supernatural in Aristophanic Comedy (Edith Hall, King's College London, UK) -- 9. Aristotle on Aristophanic Humour (Pierre Destrě, Universit ̌Catholique de Louvain, Belgium) -- Part 2: Practice -- 10. Surface and Deep Aristophanic Parody (Athina Papachrysostomou, University of Patras, Greece) -- 11. A Grammar of Para Prosdokian (Dimitrios Marios Kanellakis, University of Oxford, UK) -- 12. Laughing against the Machine (Maria Gerolemou, University of Cyprus, Cyprus) -- 13. No Laughing Matter? The Comic Potential of Madness in Aristophanes (Natalia Tsoumpra, University of Glasgow, UK) -- 14. Sexual Violence and Aristophanic Humour (Peter Swallow, King's College London, UK) -- 15. Aristophanes, Philosopher: The Comedy of Truth in Nietzsche and Freud (Adam Lecznar, University College London, UK) -- 16. Melancholia and Laughter: Modern Greek Productions of Aristophanes in the Twenty-First Century (Magdalena Zira, King's College London, UK) -- 17. Saving Classics with The Clouds : A Case Study in Adapting Aristophanes (David Bullen, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
|
