Slaves, Masters, and the Art of Authority in Plautine Comedy
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
Slaves, Masters, and the Art of Authority in Plautine Comedy
By (Author) Kathleen McCarthy
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press
13th April 2004
United States
Classifications
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval
872.01
Winner of American Philological Association: C.J. Goodwin Award of Merit 2002
Physical Properties
Paperback
248
Width 152mm, Height 235mm
369g
Description
What pleasures did Plautus's heroic tricksters provide their original audience How should we understand the compelling mix of rebellion and social conservatism that Plautus offers Through a close reading of four plays representing the full range of his work (Menaechmi, Casina, Persa, and Captivi), Kathleen McCarthy develops an innovative model of Plautine comedy and its social effects. She concentrates on how the plays are shaped by the interaction of two comic modes: the socially conservative mode of naturalism and the potentially subversive mode of farce. Scholars interested in Plautine theater will be rewarded by the detailed analyses of the plays, while those more broadly interested in social and cultural history will find much that is useful in McCarthy's new way of grasping the elusive ideological effects of comedy.
Reviews
Winner of the Charles J. Goodwin Award
Author Bio
Kathleen McCarthy is Associate Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
