Summary
Much of the material presented here was first collected for a series of lectures to undergraduate audiences. ‘The book of the lectures’ is a genre rightly regarded with deep suspicion in many quarters, and this particular example perhaps requires a brief explanation. I had no desire to produce an exhaustive treatment of Graeco-Roman comedy (a kind of updated Daos), and the time did not seem auspicious for such an undertaking. I am very aware that certain important topics, such as the differences between Greek and Roman comedy, do not receive their due in the chapters which follow, but my aim was to fill a gap in the existing literature by concentrating on what one might look for in watching and reading these plays and why such an exercise might be pleasurable. I am also acutely conscious of the fact that I have often simply stated my views on questions where more than one opinion may reasonably be held. This is intended to stimulate, rather than to suppress, discussion and dissent. I have also tried to restrict bibliographical notes to the absolute minimum, with the obvious result that in many places I have probably adopted the observation or argument of another scholar without explicit acknowledgement. I hope that those who find their work plundered in this way will not take it amiss. Where, however, I am aware that my debt is an extensive one, I have sought not to conceal the fact.
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- The New Comedy of Greece and Rome , pp. vii - viiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1985