Read complete books and articles on: Greek Comedy

Comedy - literary work that aims primarily to provoke laughter. Unlike tragedy, which seeks to engage profound emotions and sympathies, comedy strives to entertain chiefly through criticism and ridicule of man's customs and institutions.

Although usually used in reference to the drama (see drama, Western; Asian drama), in the Middle Ages comedy was associated with vernacular language and a

Although usually used in reference to the drama (see drama, Western; Asian drama), in the Middle Ages comedy was associated with vernacular language and a happy ending. Thus, the term was also applied to such non-dramatic works as Dante's religious poem, The Divine Comedy.

Evolution of Comedy

Dramatic comedy grew out of the boisterous choruses and dialogue of the fertility rites of the feasts of the Greek god Dionysus. What became known to theater historians as Old Comedy in ancient Greece was a series of loosely connected scenes (using a chorus and individual characters) in which a particular situation was thoroughly exploited through farce, fantasy, satire, and parody, the series ending in a lyrical celebration of unity.

Reaching its height in the brilliantly scathing plays of Aristophanes, Old Comedy gradually declined and was replaced by a less vital and imaginative drama. In New Comedy, generally considered to have begun in the mid-4th cent. b.c., the plays were more consciously literary, often romantic in tone, and decidedly less satirical and critical. Menander was the most famous writer of New Comedy.

During the Middle Ages the Church strove to keep the joyous and critical aspects of the drama to a minimum, but comic drama survived in medieval folk plays and festivals, in the Italian commedia dell'arte, in mock liturgical dramas, and in the farcical elements of miracle and morality plays.

With the advent of the Renaissance, a new and vital drama emerged. In England in the 16th cent. the tradition of the interlude, developed by John Heywood and others, blended with that of Latin classic comedy, eventually producing the great Elizabethan comedy, which reached its highest expression in the plays of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Shakespeare, whose comedies ranged from the farcical to the tragicomic, was the master of the romantic comedy, while Jonson, whose drama was strongly influenced by classical tenets, wrote caustic, rich satire.

In 17th-century France, the classical influence was combined with that of the commedia dell'arte in the drama of Molière, one of the greatest comic and satiric writers in the history of the theater. This combination is also present in the plays of the Italian Carlo Goldoni. After a period of suppression during the Puritan Revolution, the English comic drama reemerged with the witty, frequently licentious, consciously artificial comedy of manners of Etherege, Wycherley, Congreve, and others. At the close of the 17th cent., however, such stern reaction had set in against the bawdiness and frivolity of the Restoration stage that English comedy descended into what has become known as sentimental comedy. This drama, which sought more to evoke tears than laughter, had its counterpart in France in the comédie larmoyante.

In England during the later 18th cent. a resurgence of the satirical and witty character comedies was found in the plays of Sheridan. After an almost complete lapse in the early to mid-19th cent., good comedy was again brought to the stage in the comedies of manners by Oscar Wilde and in the comedies of ideas by George Bernard Shaw. In the late 1880s the great Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov began writing his subtle and delicate comedies of the dying Russian aristocracy.

Twentieth-Century Comedy

The 20th cent. has witnessed a number of distinct trends in comedy. These include the sophisticated and witty comedy of manners, initiated by Oscar Wilde in the late 19th cent. and carried on by Noel Coward, S. N. Behrman, Philip Barry and others; the romantic comic fantasy of such playwrights as James M. Barrie and Jean Giraudoux; and the native Irish comedy of J. M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Sean O'Casey, Brendan Behan, and Brian Friel.

Also important are the musical comedy, which descends from 18th-century ballad operas and the comic operas of W. S. Gilbert and A. S. Sullivan (see musicals) and the slick, satirical, and professional comedy of George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart, and Neil Simon. Strongly contrasting with these sunny styles are the nihilistic, highly unconventional comedy, containing both comic and tragic elements, of dramatists of the theater of the absurd such as Eugene Ionesco and Samuel Beckett and the so-called black comedy, often concerning topics like racism, sexual perversion, and murder, of playwrights such as Joe Orton, Harold Pinter, and David Mamet.

Bibliography

See B. N. Schilling, The Comic Spirit (1965); J. W. Krutch, Comedy and Conscience after the Restoration (rev. ed. 1949, repr. 1967); W. Sorell, Facets of Comedy (1972); M. Gurewitz, Comedy (1975); M. Charney, Comedy High and Low (1978); H. Levin, Playboys and Killjoys (1988).

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12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Greek Comedy

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

The Art of Greek Comedy » Read Now
by Katherine Lever. 214 pgs.

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...-i- THE ART OF GREEK COMEDY by KATHERINE LEVER METHUEN...distinct genre , with the result that Greek comedy exists in a pure form, detached from...the perspective now to...
2.

Barbarians in Greek Comedy » Read Now
by Timothy Long. 224 pgs.

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...Barbarians in Greek Comedy Timothy Long Southern Illinois...Long, Timothy, 1943- Barbarians in Greek comedy. Bibliography: p. Includes indexes...2. Barbarian Religion in...
3.

Studies in Later Greek Comedy » Read Now
by T. B. L. Webster. 261 pgs.

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...STUDIES IN LATER GREEK COMEDY -ii- PLATE I. -- GRAVE RELIEF OF ATHENIAN...Clerk, Stockport. STUDIES IN LATER GREEK COMEDY by T. B. L. WEBSTER. Professor...I. FORETHOUGHTS...
4.

The City as Comedy: Society and Representation in Athenian Drama » Read Now
by Gregory W. Dobrov. 356 pgs.

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5.

Stories from the Greek Comedians: Aristophanes, Philemon, Diphilus, Menander, Apollodorus » Read Now
by Alfred J. Church. 344 pgs.

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...A CHORUS. STORIES FROM THE GREEK COMEDIANS ARISTOPHANES...Greeks had three schools of comedy, -- the old, the middle, and...I. STORIES FROM THE OLD COMEDY. ARISTOPHANES...
6.

Ancient Greek Literature (Chap. 5 "Comedy") » Read Now
by K. J. Dover. 198 pgs.

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This historical survey of Greek literature from 700 BC to 550 AD concentrates on the principal authors and quotes many passages from their work in translation, to allow the reader to form his own impression of its quality, including Homer, Plato, Aristophanes, and Euripides. Attention is drawn both...
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This historical survey of Greek literature from 700 BC to 550 AD concentrates on the principal authors and quotes many passages from their work in translation, to allow the reader to form his own impression of its quality, including Homer, Plato, Aristophanes, and Euripides. Attention is drawn both to the elements in Greek literature and attitudes to life which are unfamiliar to us, and to the elements which appeal most powerfully to succeeding generations. Although it is recognized that this appeal lies above all in the most creative and inventive period (700-300 BC), an account is given of the eight hundred years which followed, which saw the impact of earlier inspirations. Poetry, tragedy, comedy, history, science, philosophy, and oratory are all examined through the available literature. This new edition has been revised to take account of recent scholarship, such as the influence of oriental traditions of Greek literature, and includes several new translations and a thoroughly updated bibliography.
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7.

In Praise of Comedy: A Study in Its Theory and Practice (Chap. II "Some Classical Theories of Comedy") » Read Now
by James Feibleman. 290 pgs.

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...ANCIENT COMEDY 17 2. ARCHAIC GREEK COMEDY 22 3. CLASSIC GREEK COMEDY 27 4. ROMAN COMEDY 34...9 Ecclesiastes ii , 2. 2. ARCHAIC GREEK COMEDY In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter ...
8.

Figures of Play: Greek Drama and Metafictional Poetics (Chap. 3 "Figures of Play, Part 2 the Comic Contrafact") » Read Now
by Gregory W. Dobrov. 240 pgs.

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Figures of Play explores the reflexive aspects of ancient theatrical culture across genres. Fifth century tragedy and comedy sublimated the agonistic basis of Greek civilization in a way that invited the community of the polis to confront itself. In the theatre, as in the courts and assemblies, a...
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Figures of Play explores the reflexive aspects of ancient theatrical culture across genres. Fifth century tragedy and comedy sublimated the agonistic basis of Greek civilization in a way that invited the community of the polis to confront itself. In the theatre, as in the courts and assemblies, a significant subset of the Athenian public was spectator and judge of contests where important social and ideological issues were played to it by its own members. The "syntax" of drama is shown to involve specific "figures of play" through which the theatrical medium turns back on itself to study the various contexts of its production. Greek tragedy and comedy were argued to be tempermentally metafictional in that they are always involved in recycling older fictions into contemporary scenarios of immediate relevance to the polis. The phemonenology of this process is discussed under three headings, each a "figure of play": 1) surface play--momentary disruption of the theatrical pretense through word, sign, gesture; 2) mise en abyme--a mini-drama embedded in a larger framework; 3) contrafact--an extended remake in which one play is based on another. Following three chapters in which this framework is set forth and illustrated with concrete examples there are five case studies named after the protagonists of the plays in question: Aias, Pentheus, Tereus, Bellerophontes, Herakles. Hence the other meaning of "figures of play" as stage figures. In the second section of the book on "the Anatomy of Dramatic Fiction," special attention is paid to the interaction between genres. In particular, Aristophanic comedy is shown to be engaged in an intense rivalry with tragedy that underscores the different ways in which each genre deployed its powers of representation. Tragedy refashions myth: in Bakkhai, for example, it is argued that Euripides reinvented Dionysis to be specifically a theatrical god, a symbol of tragedy's powers of representation. Comedy refashions tragedy: in a series of utopian comedies, Aristophanes re-enacts a tragic scenario in a way that revals comedy as a superior means of solving political and social crisis.
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9.

Greek Drama and Dramatists ("Old Comedy" begins on p. 25 and "Middle and New Comedy" begins on p. 30) » Read Now
by Alan H. Sommerstein. 192 pgs.

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The history of European drama began at the festivals of Dionysus in ancient Athens, where tragedy, satyr-drama and comedy were performed. Understanding this background is vital for students of classical, literary and theatrical subjects, and Alan H. Sommerstein's accessible study is the ideal...
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The history of European drama began at the festivals of Dionysus in ancient Athens, where tragedy, satyr-drama and comedy were performed. Understanding this background is vital for students of classical, literary and theatrical subjects, and Alan H. Sommerstein's accessible study is the ideal introduction.The book begins by looking at the social and theatrical contexts and different characteristics of the three genres of ancient Greek drama. It then examines the five main dramatists whose works survive - Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Menander - discussing their styles, techniques and ideas, and giving short synopses of all their extant plays.
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10.

Dialect in Aristophanes and the Politics of Language in Ancient Greek Literature (Chap. 5 "Old Comedy: Shorter Passages and Fragments" and Chap. 6 "Dialects in Old Comedy: Recapitulation") » Read Now
by Stephen Colvin. 350 pgs.

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Did the Greeks find it amusing, irritating, or threatening when they heard another Greek speaking in a different dialect? This book exploits the evidence of ancient Greek comedy in an attempt to answer some of the questions about ancient language attitudes. Colvin draws conclusions from a...
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Did the Greeks find it amusing, irritating, or threatening when they heard another Greek speaking in a different dialect? This book exploits the evidence of ancient Greek comedy in an attempt to answer some of the questions about ancient language attitudes. Colvin draws conclusions from a comparative study of the language of dialect speaking characters and other foreigners in Old Comedy, and on an examination of linguistic attitudes in other genres of Greek literature.
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11.

Menander and the Making of Comedy » Read Now
by J. Michael Walton, Peter D. Arnott. 161 pgs.

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This fascinating introduction to the comedy of Menander is the work of two classical scholars, both of whom have worked extensively as theatre practitioners. This is the first book to consider the plays of Menander primarily as performance pieces and to uncover the dramatic technique of this widely...
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This fascinating introduction to the comedy of Menander is the work of two classical scholars, both of whom have worked extensively as theatre practitioners. This is the first book to consider the plays of Menander primarily as performance pieces and to uncover the dramatic technique of this widely admired comic writer, whose plays had all but disappeared until the 1950s. Looking at the theatrical context of Menandrian comedy in its widest sense, the book includes discussions of recent productions, the recovery of the texts, the treatment of women and slaves, the nature of Menander's comedy, and where it may have led within the European tradition. This book will be of interest to both students of theatre and classicists.
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12.

Comic Angels: And Other Approaches to Greek Drama through Vase-Paintings » Read Now
by Oliver Taplin. 132 pgs.

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This book opens a neglected chapter in the reception of Athenian drama, especially comedy, and gives center stage to a particularly attractive and entertaining series of vase-paintings which have generally been regarded as marginal curiosities. These are the so-called "phylax vases," nearly all...
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This book opens a neglected chapter in the reception of Athenian drama, especially comedy, and gives center stage to a particularly attractive and entertaining series of vase-paintings which have generally been regarded as marginal curiosities. These are the so-called "phylax vases," nearly all painted in Greek cities of South Italy in the period 400 to 360 B.C. Until now, they have been taken to reflect a sort of local folk-theater, but Taplin argues that most, if not all, reflect Athenian comedy of the sort represented by Aristophanes. His bold thesis brings up questions about the relation of tragedy as well as comedy to vase painting, the cultural climate of the Greek cities in Italy, and the extent to which Athenians were aware of drama as a potential "export." It also enriches appreciation of many key aspects of Aristophanic comedy. The book has assembled 46 photographs of vase-paintings, many printed here for the first time outside specialist publications not readily accessible.
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