The Nature of Roman Comedy. A Study in Popular Entertainment.

From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Somewhat yellowed dust jacket, slightly scuffed upper corners, slight staining on bottom edge, small annotation on backflap, otherwise good and clean. Used to be owned by Sylvan Barnet (1926-2016, literary critic and English professor). Barnet spent his entire career at Tufts University, where he taught English literature from 1954 to 1984 and served for several terms as chair of the English department. Barnet also wrote several textbooks about art, writing, and literature. In total, Barnet wrote, co-wrote, or edited over forty books during his lifetime. / Etwas beriebener Schutzumschlag, leicht besto�ne obere Ecken, leicht angeschmutzter Fu�chnitt, kleine Anmerkung auf hinterem Klappentext, sonst gut und sauber. War im Vorbesitz von Sylvan Barnet (1926-2016, Literaturkritiker und Professor f�r Englisch). Barnet verbrachte seine ganze Karriere an der Tufts University, wo er von 1954 bis 1984 Englische Literatur lehrte und mehrere Semester als Vorsitzender des Fachbereichs f�r Englisch t�g war. Barnet schrieb auch mehrere B�cher �ber Kunst, Schreiben und Literatur. Insgesamt schrieb oder lektorierte Barnet w�end seines Lebens �ber vierzig B�cher. - The Nature of Roman Comedy provides the most complete and definitive study of Roman comedy to be made available to English readers. Mr. Duckworth not only embodies the results of his own researches but attempts to unify and evaluate the contributions of other scholars and to throw new light on many difficult problems. The author�s comprehensive treatment and sound judgment should make it a standard reference both for the classical student and for all who are interested in the history and development of comic drama. Dealing primarily with the comedies of Plautus and Terence, whose works represent the corpus of Roman comedy, the author analyzes and discusses the plots and characters of the plays, stage conventions, suspense and irony, the nature of the humor, the verbal and musical features, and the originality of the two playwrights. The relationship between the Roman plays and the earlier Greek comedy is not neglected, but the emphasis here is on the Roman comedies as plays and as popular entertainment. The final chapter traces in considerable detail the extensive influence which the comedies of Plautus and Terence exerted upon European comedy in the 16th and 17th centuries and' will be of special interest to students of Italian, French, and English drama. - George E. Duckworth is Giger Professor of Classics at Princeton University. He is the editor of The Complete Roman Drama and also of the edition of Epidicus described below.