Product Information
This book argues that New Comedy has a far richer performance texture than has previously been recognised. Offering close readings of all the major plays of Menander, it shows how intertextuality - the sustained dialogue of New Comedy performance with the diverse ideological, philosophical, literary and theatrical discourses of contemporary polis culture - is crucial in creating semantic depth and thus offsetting the impression that the plots are simplistic love stories with no political or ideological resonances. It also explores how the visual aspect of the plays ('opsis') is just as important as any verbal means of signification - a phenomenon termed 'intervisuality', examining in particular depth the ways in which the mask can infuse various systems of reference into the play. Masks like the panchrestos neaniskos (the 'all-perfect youth'), for example, are now full of meaning; thus, with their ideologically marked physiognomies, they can be strong instigators of literary and cultural allusion.Product Identifiers
PublisherCambridge University Press
ISBN-139781107068438
eBay Product ID (ePID)209401042
Product Key Features
Book TitleMenander, New Comedy and the Visual
AuthorAntonis K. Petrides
FormatHardcover
LanguageEnglish
TopicLiterature
Publication Year2014
Dimensions
Item Height224mm
Item Width145mm
Additional Product Features
Title_AuthorAntonis K. Petrides
Series TitleCambridge Classical Studies
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom