Greek Comedy and Ideology [Hardcover]

In comedy, happy endings resolve real-world conflicts. These conflicts, in turn, leave their mark on the texts in the form of gaps in plot and inconsistencies of characterization.Greek Comedy and Ideologyanalyzes how the structure of ancient Greek comedy betrays and responds to cultural tensions in the society of the classical city-state. It explores the utopian vision of Aristophanes' comedies--for example, an all-powerful city inhabited by birds, or a world of limitless wealth presided over by the god of wealth himself--as interventions in the political issues of his time. David Konstan goes on to examine the more private world of Menandrean comedy (including two adaptations of Menander by the Roman playwright Terence), in which problems of social status, citizenship, and gender are negotiated by means of elaborately contrived plots. In conclusion, Konstan looks at an imitation of ancient comedy by Moli?re, and the way in which the ideology of emerging capitalism transforms the premises of the classical genre.

This book is accessible to the general reader and a useful resource for the specialist. --Religious Studies

Konstan's novel study should command and challenge a wide readership, from undergraduate to specialist. --Choice

On whatever subjects David Konstan writes in the field of classical studies (and beyond), the reader has come to expect elegant and humane discussion of the larger points raised by the ancient texts, the society behind the artist and his works....Konstan's discussions are always elegant in their phrasing and subtle in their content....The essays were thought-provoking, and in the case ofWasps, Frogs,andPloutosdeserve to be among the required reading for these comedies. --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

...Konstan offers intelligent, reliable, and unltimately convincing reading of these plays. --New England Classical Journal