Menander and the Birth of Domestic Drama
Regular price
€84.99
A01=Mitch Brown
ancient Greek drama
ancient Greek dramaturgy
ancient Greek households
ancient Greek houses
Aspis
Author_Mitch Brown
Category=ATD
Category=ATY
Category=DDA
Category=NHC
Category=NHD
domestic interiors
dramatic realism
dramaturgy
Dyskolos
Epitrepontes
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
Greek actors
Greek comedy
Greek drama
Greek stages
Greek theater
Mendander
New Comedy
Perikeiromene
Samia
theater
Product details
- ISBN 9780299349608
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 31 Dec 2024
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Although few of his plays exist in full today, the fourth-century BCE Greek dramatist Menander was known far and wide throughout antiquity. He was one of the first to locate his dramas in the common household, rather than the mythic world of gods and heroes, and is now recognized as one of the pioneering figures of ancient Greek “New Comedy.”
The design of the Greek stage was such that the interiors of houses were almost never shown, which posed difficulties for a playwright interested in staging the domestic lives of ordinary people. Here, Mitch Brown dissects how Menander responded to this challenge. As Brown demonstrates, Menander successfully conjured offstage action and even characters in the audiences’ imaginations; these offstage universes, Brown argues, are fundamental to understanding Menander’s dramaturgy and its reception in later centuries. Menander’s offstage methods and the new type of play (domestic drama) that he inaugurated directly influenced Western theater into the early modern period—and the impact of his innovations can still be seen indirectly today.
The design of the Greek stage was such that the interiors of houses were almost never shown, which posed difficulties for a playwright interested in staging the domestic lives of ordinary people. Here, Mitch Brown dissects how Menander responded to this challenge. As Brown demonstrates, Menander successfully conjured offstage action and even characters in the audiences’ imaginations; these offstage universes, Brown argues, are fundamental to understanding Menander’s dramaturgy and its reception in later centuries. Menander’s offstage methods and the new type of play (domestic drama) that he inaugurated directly influenced Western theater into the early modern period—and the impact of his innovations can still be seen indirectly today.
Mitch Brown is an assistant professor of classical studies at William & Mary.
