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Author Jendza, Craig, author.

Title Paracomedy : appropriations of comedy in Greek tragedy / Craig Jendza
Published New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2020
©2020

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Description 1 online resource (x, 341 pages)
Summary "Paracomedy: Appropriations of Comedy in Greek Drama is the first book that examines how ancient Greek tragedy engages with the genre of comedy. While scholars frequently study paratragedy (how Greek comedians satirize tragedy), this book investigates the previously overlooked practice of paracomedy: how Greek tragedians regularly appropriate elements from comedy such as costumes, scenes, language, characters, or plots. Drawing upon a wide variety of complete and fragmentary tragedies and comedies (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Rhinthon), this monograph demonstrates that paracomedy was a prominent feature of Greek tragedy. Blending a variety of interdisciplinary approaches including traditional philology, literary criticism, genre theory, and performance studies, this book offers innovative close readings and incisive interpretations of individual plays. Jendza presents paracomedy as a multivalent authorial strategy: some instances impart a sense of ugliness or discomfort; others provide a sense of light-heartedness or humor. While the book traces the development of paracomedy over several hundred years, it focuses on a handful of Euripidean tragedies at the end of the fifth century BCE. Jendza argues that Euripides was participating in a rivalry with the comedian Aristophanes and often used paracomedy to demonstrate the poetic supremacy of tragedy; indeed, some of Euripides' most complex uses of paracomedy attempt to re-appropriate Aristophanes' mockery of his theatrical techniques. Paracomedy: Appropriations of Comedy in Greek Tragedy theorizes a new, ground-breaking relationship between Greek tragedy and comedy that not only redefines our understanding of the genre of tragedy, but also reveals a dynamic theatrical world filled with mutual cross-generic influence"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Notes Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on July 9, 2020)
Subject Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism
Greek drama (Comedy) -- History and criticism
Greek drama (Comedy)
Greek drama (Tragedy)
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2019038640
ISBN 9780190090968
0190090960
9780190090944
0190090944
9780190090951
0190090952