Comedy

About: Comedy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8400 publications have been published within this topic receiving 67483 citations. The topic is also known as: humor.

The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy

Abstract: historical place of Attic obscenity, a typological breakdown of obscene imagery, and an analysis of the dramatic part of obscenity in each play. The major part of the book consists of a philological critique of each word group suspected of obscene overtones. This is numbered, indexed, and divided into sexual organs, sexual congress, scatology and homosexuality. There is a second index of passages discussed and an appendix arguing against the influence of "Dorian farce" on Attic comedy. This is generally a judicious and well-written book, whose ease of reference and comprehensive coverage of the phenomena of obscenity will cause it to be used and abused for some time to come. Most readers will find that they had underestimated the amount of sexual metaphor in Aristophanes; indeed the author is scarcely to be blamed if his mind has been so steeped in double entendres that, e.g., on 130 he mistranslates Photius' ganglion to produce an erection, or on 147 a bird turns into a pussy. Clearly his Greek is not without faults and should be checked. The strength of the book is, despite lapses, in its gathering and analysis of the philological evidence. Henderson demonstrates that certain words are primally obscene and therefore shocking, others less so and adjustable in a scale upwards to mild euphemism and medical correctness. This observation enables him to make some good dramatic points about the distribution of obscenity between characters in the course of which the recent Oxford commentaries are several times correctly chastized for failing to explicate humour. I found his remarks on the Acharnians particularly well considered. In spite of the freedom of the language which Henderson of necessity employs, he has a peculiar view of modern sexuality which causes him to have an equally unbalanced view of ancient habits. Throughout the book "we" are accused of massive inhibitions, feelings of disgust, etc., leading to neuroses at the thought, sight, or sound of obscene phenomena. Perhaps this is true in Boston; but it is no longer true of most civilized countries, and neither conversation at a French dinner table nor behaviour at a

The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter

Abstract: Unruly women have been making a spectacle of themselves in film and on television from Mae West to Roseanne Arnold. In this groundbreaking work, Kathleen Rowe explores how the unruly woman--often a voluptuous, noisy, joke-making rebel or "woman on top"--uses humor and excess to undermine patriarchal norms and authority. At the heart of the book are detailed analyses of two highly successful unruly women--the comedian Roseanne Arnold and the Muppet Miss Piggy. Putting these two figures in a deeper cultural perspective, Rowe also examines the evolution of romantic film comedy from the classical Hollywood period to the present, showing how the comedic roles of actresses such as Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, and Marilyn Monroe offered an alternative, empowered image of women that differed sharply from the "suffering heroine" portrayed in classical melodramas.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Abstract: A picture of the author's own youthful evolution into a writer, this novel is also a moment in the intellectual history of an age. It shows Joyce's enormous appetite for both the broad comedy of life and its tiniest wry details. A critical assessment of the book is also included.

Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage

Abstract: Introduction: Words for a Conversation 1. Cons and Pros The Lady Eve 2. Knowledge as Transgression It Happened One Night 3. Leopards in Connecticut Bringing up Baby 4. The Importance of Importance The Philadelphia Story 5. Counterfeiting Happiness His Girl Friday 6. The Courting of Marriage Adam's Rib 7. The Same and Different The Awful Truth Appendix: Film in the University Acknowledgments Index

Genres in Dialogue: Plato and the Construct of Philosophy

Abstract: Acknowledgements Abbreviations and texts Introduction 1. Plato, Isocrates and the property of philosophy 2. Use and abuse of Athenian tragedy 3. Eulogy, irony, parody 4. Alien and authentic discourse 5. Philosophy and comedy Conclusion Bibliography General index Index of passages from Plato.