Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up (Sather Classical Lectures): 71 - Softcover

Beard, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520287584 ISBN 13: 9780520287587

Publisher: University of California Press, 2015

Synopsis

BEARD, M. LAUGHTER IN ANCIENT ROME. ON JOKING, TICKLING, AND CRACKING UP. BERKELEY, CA, 2015, 336 p.,figuras. Encuadernacion original. Nuevo.

About this title

Review:

"Expect to be engaged by an enthralling book."--Harry Mount"The Spectator" (06/07/2014)

"You can read hundreds of books on Roman emperors and conquests; this represents a valiant attempt to bring a little understanding of a smaller, but no less important, part of what made Rome run."--Rob Hardy"Columbus Commercial Dispatch" (07/21/2014)

"Like a great piece of archaeology, 'Laughter in Ancient Rome' allows us to glimpse ourselves in the cracked mirror of a distant culture."--John Domini"Washington Post" (09/17/2014)

"'Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up, ' which has just been published, is an engaging exploration of what made the Romans laugh--bad breath, among other things--but it also explores dimensions of Roman sensibility that have become elusive to us."--Rebecca Mead"New Yorker" (09/01/2014)

"Rich and provocative."--Roy Gibson"TLS" (08/13/2014)

"Few things are more tiresome than seeing a joke analyzed. . . . Beard's book avoids pedantry but also its opposite, the archness that preens itself on 'not taking humor too seriously' and signals inane wordplays with 'pun intended!' More importantly, her treatment makes one look with new eyes . . . even at works she does not herself discuss . . . [a] stimulating book."
-- (07/10/2014)

"[Beard's] central question is simple: what made the Romans laugh? Her answers are pleasingly complex. . . . Beard is always enlightening, and writes with a perfect balance of forensic detail and wide-ranging intellect."-- (06/15/2014)

"Superbly acute and unashamedly complex. . . . To our vision of the solemn grandeur that was Rome, she restores a raucous, ghostly laughter."-- (07/01/2014)

"What made the Romans laugh? It's an incredible, almost childlike thought to have. But in this characteristically brilliant book by Mary Beard, this simple thought becomes a mental projection that conjures up the world of Rome as well or better than any book in recent memory."-- (12/03/2014)

"A fun read . . . accessible yet academic."-- (04/27/2015)

About the Author:

Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at Cambridge University. Her many books include The Roman Triumph and The Fires of Vesuvius.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0520287584
• ISBN 13: 9780520287587
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336