Book
Open Access
The Play of Language in Ancient Greek Comedy
Comic Discourse and Linguistic Artifices of Humour, from Aristophanes to Menander
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Edited by:
Kostas Apostolakis
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2024
About this book
Open Access
Ancient Greek comedy relied primarily on its text and words for the fulfilment of its humorous effects and aesthetic goals. In the wake of a rich tradition of previous scholarship, this volume explores a variety of linguistic materials and stylistic artifices exploited by the Greek comic poets, from vocabulary and figures of speech (metaphors, similes, rhyme) to types of joke, obscenity, and the mechanisms of parody. Most of the chapters focus on Aristophanes and Old Comedy, which offers the richest arsenal of such techniques, but the less ploughed fields of Middle and New Comedy are also explored. Emphasis is placed on practical criticism and textual readings, on the examination of particular artifices of speech and the analysis of individual passages. The main purpose is to highlight the use of language for the achievement of the aesthetic, artistic, and intellectual purposes of ancient comedy, in particular for the generation of humour and comic effect, the delineation of characters, the transmission of ideological messages, and the construction of poetic meaning. The volume will be useful to scholars of ancient drama, linguists, students of humour, and scholars of Classical literature in general.
Author / Editor information
Kostas Apostolakis, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece; Ioannis M. Konstantakos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Topics
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Frontmatter
I -
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Preface
V -
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Contents
VII -
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Introduction
1 -
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Metaphors and Personifications Onstage
59 -
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Imaginary Wor(l)ds: Comic Language and the Construction of Fantasy
75 -
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A Less Maculate Muse
125 -
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Like a Rabid Dog: Animal Metaphors and Similes in Aristophanes
161 -
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The Shop of Aristophanes the Carpenter: How Comic Poets Assembled (and Disassembled) Words
195 -
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“When He Should Have Said...” The Treatment of Humour παρ’ ὑπόνοιαν in the Aristophanic Scholia
219 -
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Rhyme in Greek Comedy
255 -
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Three Words in Aristophanes’ Wealth (999, 1037, 1083)
273 -
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Spoudaiogeloion Revisited: Homeric Text between a Scholar and a Cook
287 -
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Proper Names, Nicknames, Epithets: Aspects of Comic Language in Middle Comedy
311 -
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Strategies of Verbal Humour in Menander’s Dyskolos: From Linguistics to Dramaturgy
347 -
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List of Contributors
393 -
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Index Nominum et Rerum
397 -
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Index Locorum
407 -
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Index of Notable Greek Words and Phrases
433
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
May 6, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9783111295282
Hardcover published on:
May 6, 2024
Hardcover ISBN:
9783111294490
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Front matter:
8
Main content:
437
Tables:
3
Keywords for this book
Ancient Greek Humour; Aristophanes; Middle and New Comedy; Ancient Greek Language
Audience(s) for this book
Classical scholars, Scholars of ancient drama, Linguists, Scholars of humour, Literary critics
Creative Commons
BY 4.0
Safety & product resources
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Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com
