Comedy in Literature and Popular Culture - Morrison, James V.; - Prospero Internet Bookshop
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Comedy in Literature and Popular Culture

From Aristophanes to Saturday Night Live
 
Edition number: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Date of Publication:
 
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GBP 135.00
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Short description:

Comedy in Literature and Popular Culture explores works of comedy from the past 2,500 years. This vibrant study offers a compelling analyses of comedy as a mode, form, and genre.  It is an engaging read for students and scholars of comparative literature, literary history, and media studies, and theatre and performance.

Long description:

Comedy in Literature and Popular Culture: From Aristophanes to Saturday Night Live explores works of comedy from the past 2,500 years.


James V. Morrison discusses works including those of Aristophanes and Plautus, Shakespeare and Moliere, and modern comic writers, performers, and cartoonists, such as Thomas Nast, P. G. Wodehouse, Charlie Chaplin, and Jerry Seinfeld, asking the following questions:



  • Is comedy a mirror of our lives?  Is it ?funny ?cuz it?s true??  Or is it funny because it ignores reality? 

  • Should we distinguish between the plot of a comic play and the jokes found in it?  Are the jokes just there to make us laugh or are the jokes as essential as the plot? 

  • Do memories of satirical portrayals on the comic stage displace recollections of the historical person?

By juxtaposing works from different cultures and time periods, the book demonstrates a universal recourse to certain familiar techniques, situations, and characters.


This vibrant study offers a compelling analysis of comedy as a mode, form, and genre.  It is an engaging read for students and scholars of comparative literature, literary history, media studies, and theater and performance.

Table of Contents:


Chapter One. The World of Comedy                                                                       


Chapter Two. Comic Heroes in Aristophanes and Heller?s Catch-22                     


Chapter Three. The Extreme Characters of Comedy                                               


Chapter Four. Socrates, Memory, and the Power of Comedy                                  


Chapter Five. Slaves, Masters, and Social Inversion                                                           


Chapter Six. Surrealism, Politeness Theory, and Comic Twins in Plautus and Shakespeare


Chapter Seven. Comedy in Tragedy: King Lear, The Bacchae, and Waiting for Godot


Chapter Eight. Modern Performance of Ancient Comedy: Aristophanes? Frogs   


Bibliography


Index