Cratinus and the Art of Comedy

Emmanuela Bakola author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:17th Dec '09

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Cratinus and the Art of Comedy cover

Cratinus, one of the lost great poets of fifth-century Athenian comedy, had a formative influence on the comic genre, including Aristophanes himself. Using a methodologically innovative approach, Emmanuela Bakola studies the surviving fragments of Cratinus' plays and offers a thorough analysis of the multifaceted art of this poet and his place in the history of comedy. Issues which she addresses include the creation of a poetic personality within a performative tradition of fierce interpoetic rivalry; the play at the boundaries of the comic genre and the interaction with satyr drama and tragedy, especially Aeschylus; stagecraft and dramaturgy; comic plot-construction and characterization; the author's reflection on his immediate political, social and intellectual context. As well as providing insight into Cratinus, her book enriches our understanding of fifth-century Athenian comedy in a dynamic evolving environment.

Our understanding of Athenian "Old Comedy" is greatly enriched by Emmanuela Bakola's 'Cratinus and the Art of Comedy' ... this is an impressively rewarding study. * Matthew Leigh, Times Literary Supplement *
This is a book about which all students of ancient comedy should be excited. * Tom Hawkins, Classical Review *

ISBN: 9780199569359

Dimensions: 224mm x 147mm x 23mm

Weight: 683g

400 pages