Aristophanes: An Introduction - Softcover

James Robson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0715634526 ISBN 13: 9780715634523

Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

This accessible introduction to the work of one of the world's greatest comic writers tackles key questions posed by Aristophanes plays, such as staging, humour, songs, obscene language, politics and the modern translation and performance of Aristophanic comedy. The book opens up exciting and contentious areas of Aristophanic scholarship in a way that is engaging and readily comprehensible to a non-specialist audience, never losing sight of the fact that Aristophanes plays are vibrant literary texts, designed primarily to appeal to a classical Athenian audience as pieces of living drama. Key to the book's appeal is that James Robson conceives of the plays as dynamic texts, containing a treasure trove of information not only about how they might have been performed and received in classical Athens, but also how they might be read and understood today. Most importantly, readers are given the tools and information to make their own minds up about the debates that still rage about Aristophanic comedy in the modern world.

About this title

Review:

... enters a market already occupied
by earlier books with the same goal... but in
many ways this book may be the best of the group in exposing students to a
balanced treatment of the critical issues that have come to dominate the study
of this author over the last three decades.
IJCT

Synopsis:

"Aristophanes: An Introduction" is an accessible introduction to the work of one of the world's greatest comic writers. It tackles key questions posed by Aristophanes' plays, such as staging, humor, songs, obscene language, politics and the modern translation and performance of Aristophanic comedy. This book opens up exciting and contentious areas of Aristophanic scholarship in a way that is engaging and readily comprehensible a non-specialist audience, never losing sight of the fact that Aristophanes' plays are vibrant literary texts, designed primarily to appeal to a classical Athenian audience as pieces of living drama.Key to the book's appeal is that James Robson conceives of the plays as dynamic texts, containing a treasure trove of information not only about how they might have been performed and received in classical Athens, but also how they might be read and understood today. Most importantly, readers are given the tools and information to make their own minds up about the debates that still rage about Aristophanic comedy in the modern world.

About this edition

• Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0715634526
• ISBN 13: 9780715634523
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192