The City as Comedy : Society and Representation in Athenian Drama

by: Dobrov, G.W.

Price: 48,00 EURO

1 copy in stock

These thirteen essays combine classical scholars' interest in theatrical production with a growing interdisciplinary inquiry into the urban contexts of literary production. Taking as their departure point the annual comic competitions at the Athenian dramatic festivals, the contributors examine how the polis--as a place, a political entity, a specific social organization, and a set of ideological representations--was enacted on stage from the middle of the fifth century B.C. through the fourth. Applying a variety of critical approaches to Athenian comedy, these essays are grouped around three broad categories: utopianism, fissures in the social fabric, and the new polis of fourth-century comedy. The contributors explore the sociopolitical and material contexts of the works discussed and trace the genre into the fourth century, when it underwent profound changes. Simultaneously a study of classical Greek literature and an analysis of cultural production, this collection reveals how for two centuries Athens itself was transformed, staged as comedy, and, ultimately, shaped by contemporary material, social, and ideological forces. The contributors are Elizabeth Bobrick, Gregory Crane, Gregory Dobrov, Malcolm Heath, Jeffrey Henderson, Timothy P. Hofmeister, Thomas K. Hubbard, David Konstan, Heinz-GAnther Nesselrath, Frank Romer, Ralph M. Rosen, Niall W. Slater, and John Wilkins.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

Introduction ix
1 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF UTOPIA
3 (132)
David Konstan
The Greek Polis and Its Negations: Versions of Utopia in Aristophanes' Birds
3 (20)
Thomas K. Hubbard
Utopianism and the Sophistic City in Aristophanes
23 (28)
F.E. Romer
Good Intentions and the XXX
51 (24)
Niall W. Slater
Performing the City in Birds
75 (20)
Gregory W. Dobrov
Language, Fiction, and Utopia
95 (40)
2 PLAYING ALONG THE FAULT LINES
135 (136)
Jeffrey Henderson
Mass versus Elite and the Comic Heroism of Peisetairos
135 (14)
Ralph M. Rosen
The Gendered Polis in Eupolis' Cities
149 (28)
Elizabeth Bobrick
The Tyranny of Roles: Playacting and Privilege in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae
177 (21)
Gregory Crane
Oikos and Agora: Mapping the Polis in Aristophanes' Wasps
198 (32)
Malcolm Health
Aristophanes and the Discourse of Politics
230 (20)
John Wilkins
Comic Cuisine: Food and Eating in the Comic Polis
250 (21)
3 THE NEW COMIC POLIS
271 (72)
Heinz-Gunther Nesselrath
The Polis of Athens in Middle Comedy
271 (18)
Timothy P. Hofmeister
XXX: Polis and Oikoumene in Menander
289 (54)
Contributors 343 (2)
Index 345

xix, 355 pages ; 25 cm
 

The City as Comedy : Society and Representation in Athenian Drama

by: Dobrov, G.W.

• ISBN-13: 9780807846452 / 978-0-8078-4645-2
• ISBN-03: 0807846457 / 0-8078-4645-7
• The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1997

Price: 48,00 EURO

1 copy in stock