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Menander in Contexts

By Alan Sommerstein

To Be Published January 15th 2014 by Routledge – 336 pages

Series: Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies

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Description

The comedies of the Athenian dramatist Menander (c. 342-291 BC) and his contemporaries were the ultimate source of a Western tradition of light drama that has continued to the present day. Yet for over a millennium, Menander’s own plays were thought to have been completely lost. Thanks to a long and continuing series of papyrus discoveries, Menander has now been able to take his place among the major surviving ancient Greek dramatists alongside Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes.

In this book, twenty-four contributors examine and explore the Menander we know today in light of the various literary, intellectual, and social contexts in which his plays can be viewed. Topics covered include: the society, culture, and politics of his generation; the intellectual currents of the period; the literary precursors who inspired Menander (or whom he expected his audiences to recall); and responses to Menander, from his own time to ours. As the first comprehensive volume on Menander in English, this book is essential reading for those interested in ancient comedy the world over.

Contents

Part 1: Menander and Athenian Culture and Society 1. Menander: A Social Source Stan Ireland 2. Military Culture and Menander Mario Lamagna 3. Menander’s Dionysia Johanna Hanink 4. Menander and the Economies of Athens and Attica Graham Oliver 5. Nothing to Do with Athenian law? Legal Poetics and the Problem of Debt-Bondage in Menander’s Heros Emiliano Buis 6. Slaving Strategies and Strategies of Slaves in Menander Eftykhia Bathrellou 7. Money and Love in Menander’s Comedies Horst-Dieter Blume 8. Menander and the Pallaké Alan Sommerstein 9. Rethinking Rape in Menander’s Comedy and Athenian Life: Modern Comparative Evidence Sharon James 10. "So Nature Willed, and Nature Heeds No Laws" (Men. Epitrep. 1123-5): Menander in Biopoetical Perspective Toni Badnall, Susan Deacy and Fiona McHardy Part 2: Menander and Earlier Drama 11. The Unity of Time in Menander Robert Germany 12. Menandrian Marriage in Context Styliani Papastamati 13. Inflections of the Tragic Nurse in Menander Ariana Traill 14. Menander’s Drama of Misunderstanding in Context Gunther Martin 15. Staging and Constructing the Divine in Menander Sarah Miles 16. Continuity and Change in the Comic Genre, or How it All Ended Up with Menander Athina Papachrysostomou Part 3: Menander and the Intellectuals 17. Menander, Aristotle, Chance, and Accidental Ignorance Valeria Cinaglia18. Menander and the Peripatos: New Insights about an Old Question Angelo Casanova 19. Melancholic Lovers in Menander Christophe Cusset Part 4: Responses to Menander 20. Menander on the Way to the Greek Novel: A Pattern of Development William Furley 21. Sur la Réception de Ménandre à l’époque Imperial Orestis Karavas and Jean-Luc Vix 22. ‘Not even Menander Would Use this Word’: Menander as Polemical Target and Linguistic Source in Atticist Lexicography Olga Tribulato 23. An Ideal Reception: Menander, Terence, and Oscar Wilde Serena Witzke 24. Menander’s Epitrepontes in Modern Greek Theatre: The ‘Poetics’ of its Reception and Performance Stavroula Kiritsi

Author Bio

Alan Sommerstein is Professor of Greek in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Nottingham, UK.

Name: Menander in Contexts (Hardback) – Routledge 
Description: By Alan Sommerstein. The comedies of the Athenian dramatist Menander (c. 342-291 BC) and his contemporaries were the ultimate source of a Western tradition of light drama that has continued to the present day. Yet for over a millennium, Menander’s own plays were...
Categories: Greek History & Culture, Greek Literature, Drama Genres, Humour, Classical Literature