Women and Humor in Classical Greece

by Laurie O'Higgins

Overview

Laurie O'Higgins examines the role of women as producers of joking speech, especially within cults of Demeter. She considers the speech from its mythical origins in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, through the reactive iambic tradition and into old comedy. Sometimes known as aischrologia, this speech had considerable weight and vitality within its cultic context. It also influenced literary traditions, notably iambic and Attic old comedy traditionally regarded as entirely male.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521037907
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/19/2007
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Cultic obscenity in Greece, especially Attica; 2. Iambe and the Hymn to Demeter; 3. Iambic's relationship with the female; 4. Women's iambic voices; 5. Comedy and women; 6. Women at centre stage; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"O'Higgins writes well and her interpretations are carefully argued and imaginative. No other book deals with this range of materials. Highly recommended." Choice

"O'Higgins makes her points well, and shows how a commonsense approach prusued imaginatively can produce radical and persuasive interpretations." New England Classical Journal

From the Publisher