Aristophanes: Frogs by C W Marshall

Aristophanes: Frogs by C W Marshall

A comedy about tragedy and a play about playmaking, Aristophanes’ Frogs (405 BCE) is perhaps the most popular of ancient comedies. This new introduction guides students through the play, its themes and contemporary contexts, and its reception history. Frogs offers sustained engagement with the Athenian literary scene, with the politics of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, and with the religious understanding of the fifth-century city. It presents the earliest direct criticism of theatre and a detailed description of the Underworld, and also dramatizes the place of Mystery cults in the religious life of Athens and shows the political concerns that galvanized the citizens.

It is also genuinely funny, showcasing a range of comic techniques, including literary and musical parody, political invective, grotesque distortion, wordplay, prop comedy, and funny costumes. Frogs has inspired literary works by Henry Fielding, George Bernard Shaw, and Tom Stoppard.

This book explores all of these features in a series of short chapters designed to be accessible to a new reader of ancient comedy. It proceeds linearly through the play, addressing a range of issues, but paying particular attention to stagecraft and performance. It also offers a bold new interpretation of the play, suggesting that the action of Frogs was not the first time Euripides and Aeschylus had competed against each other.

This volume is a perfect companion to Frogs: essential and joyful for anyone reading, teaching or performing Aristophanes, or really any ancient Greek play-- Wilfred Major, Associate Professor of Classics, Louisiana State University, USA

C. W. Marshall is Professor of Greek at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781350080928
ISBN 10	1350080926
Title	Aristophanes: Frogs
Author	C W Marshall
Series	Bloomsbury Ancient Comedy Companions
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2020-11-12
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.