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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.
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.
