Read more
Hysterical Laughter: Four Ancient Comedies About Women is the first text to uniquely employ comedy as a vehicle to explore women, gender, and sexuality in Greek and Roman antiquity. Featuring new, engaging, and accessible translations by David Christenson of four of the finest classical comedies--Lysistrata (Aristophanes), Samia (Menander), Casina (Plautus), and Hecyra (Terence)--it provides instructors with an attractive and innovative way to explore the social and cultural dimensions of ancient theater and the construction of gender roles in ancient society. The volume is enhanced by an extensive general introduction and includes an introduction, notes, and essays for each comedy, all of which assume no prior background in classical studies. Ideal for courses in classical literature in translation and women in the ancient world, Hysterical Laughter can also be used in a variety of other courses in ancient history, women's studies, cultural studies, and theater.
List of contents
- Table of Contents:
- About The Translator
- Preface
- Introduction
- DT Greek Old Comedy
- DT Greek New Comedy
- DT Roman Comedy
- DT Women In The Ancient World
- Aristophanes' Lysistrata
- Lysistrata
- Menader's Samia
- Samia.
- Plautus' Casina
- Casina
- Terence's Hecyra
- Hecyra
- Appendix: Olympian Deities
About the author
David Christenson (PhD Harvard, 1991) is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Plautus: Amphitruo (Cambridge 2009), Plautus and Roman Comedy: Five Plays by Plautus and Terence (Focus, 2010), Plautus: Psuedolus (Cambridge, 2011). Christenson currently directs the Basic Latin Program at Arizona.
Summary
Hysterical Laughter: Four Ancient Comedies about Women is the first text that uses a literary genre--comedy--as a vehicle to explore another field (women/gender/sexuality). The results are immensely creative and open up new learning avenues for instructors and students.
Additional text
Hysterical Laughter features four classic Greek and Roman plays - Lysistrata, Samia, Casina, and Hecyra each starring strong female characters. Each play is an excellent example of these great playwrights' work, and juxtaposing them brings out both similarities and differences in their ideas and their stagecraft. As the author demonstrates, each play challenges its society's ideas about women and gender roles, using hilarious comic techniques. The translations are close, but very lively, boldly including the originals' vulgarity and even obscenity; they ought to be staged as well as read. The introductions, informed by the latest scholarship, provide information about women in the ancient world and the original performance conditions; the notes are succinct and helpful, the bibliographies excellent. This book will be ideal in classical studies, history, theater, and women's studies classes.
