Items related to The Names of Comedy (Alexander Lectures)
Synopsis
Unlike tragic dramatists, who have usually inherited their characters' names from history or myth, comic writers are name-givers. They have always confronted a fundamental choice: whether to give "speaking" names, expressing the nature of the characters, or "accidental" ones, which allow for greater independence and for change. These different attitudes towards naming are bound up with the larger debate about the truthful or arbitrary nature of language itself: the debate formalized in Plato's dialogue "Cratylus", and continuing today. This book takes the "Cratylus" as its starting point. It examines the way individual dramatists and varieties of comedy are drawn either towards the position of Plato's Hermogenes, who believes that names are arbitrary impositions, or towards the essentialist view held by Cratylus himself. It claims that although the bias of comedy is inherently Cratylic, it is a bias perpetually being modified and corrected by the rival approach to naming. The first chapter is concerned with Aristophanes, and with the varying onomastic allegiances of Menander, Plautus and Terence. The second examines English mediaeval drama, partly in relation to the introduction and spread of surnames, while the third considers the contribution of Hermogenean and Cratylic attitudes to modes of comedy established during the early 16th century and their subsequent polarization in Shakespeare and Jonson. At the heart of the book lie two chapters on Shakespeare, naming and names. Chapter five looks at a group of Shakespeare plays - the Fenriad, "Romeo and Juliet" and "Othello" - in which naming strategies associated with comedy are made to operate within alien contexts. The book ends with general chapters on namelessness in tragedy, comedy and folklore, and its consequences for social and personal identity. A brief epilogue traces the history of English comic naming from the Restoration to Beckett.
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- PublisherUniv of Toronto Pr
- Publication date1990
- ISBN 10 0802056571
- ISBN 13 9780802056573
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
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The Names of Comedy
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University of Toronto Press, 1990
ISBN 10: 0802056571
ISBN 13: 9780802056573
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The Names of Comedy
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ISBN 10: 0802056571
ISBN 13: 9780802056573
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The Names of Comedy (Alexander Lectures)
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The names of comedy / Anne Barton
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Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1990
ISBN 10: 0802056571
ISBN 13: 9780802056573
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1st edition. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; x, 221 p. ; 24 cm. Notes; Expanded version of four lectures entitled Comedy and the naming of parts presented as the Alexander memorial lectures at University College, Toronto in Nov. 1983. Includes index. Subjects; Shakespeare, William 1564-1616 Characters. Plato Cratylus. Shakespeare, William 1564-1616 Plays Selections. Shakespeare, William 1564-1616. Names, Personal, in literature. English drama (Comedy) History and criticism. Comedy Names in. Drama History and criticism. Comedy in literature. Names in literature. Comic, The History and criticism. Comedy History and criticism. English drama (Comedy). 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 426224
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The names of comedy / Anne Barton
Published by
Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 1990
ISBN 10: 0802056571
ISBN 13: 9780802056573
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
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1st edition. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; x, 221 p. ; 24 cm. Notes; Expanded version of four lectures entitled Comedy and the naming of parts presented as the Alexander memorial lectures at University College, Toronto in Nov. 1983. Includes index. Subjects; Shakespeare, William 1564-1616 Characters. Plato Cratylus. Shakespeare, William 1564-1616 Plays Selections. Shakespeare, William 1564-1616. Names, Personal, in literature. English drama (Comedy) History and criticism. Comedy Names in. Drama History and criticism. Comedy in literature. Names in literature. Comic, The History and criticism. Comedy History and criticism. English drama (Comedy). 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 426224
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The names of comedy / Anne Barton
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Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1990
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The Names of Comedy (Alexander Lectures)
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The names of comedy / Anne Barton
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Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1990
ISBN 10: 0802056571
ISBN 13: 9780802056573
Used
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First Edition
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
1st edition. Fine cloth copy in a near-fine, very slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description; 221 pp. ; 24 cm. Subjects; Shakespeare, William 1564-1616 Characters. Plato. Cratylus. Plays. Selections. Classical drama (Comedy) History and criticism. Comedy. Characters and characteristics in literature. Names, Personal. 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 399490
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The Names of Comedy (Alexander Lectures)
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The Names of Comedy
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