Overview

Satyric Play is the first book to offer an integrated analysis of Greek comedy and satyr drama. Using a literary-historical approach, Carl A. Shaw argues that comedy and satyr plays influenced each other in nearly all stages of their development. Although satyr drama was written by tragedians and employed a number of formal tragic elements, the humorous chorus of half-man, half-horse satyrs encouraged sustained interaction between poets of comedy and satyr play. From sixth-century proto-drama, through classical productions staged at the Athenian City Dionysia, to bookish Alexandrian plays of the third-century, the remains of comic and satyric performances reveal a range of literary, aesthetic, historical, religious, and geographical connections. Shaw analyzes the details of this interplay diachronically, looking at a wide range of literary and material evidence. He shows that ancient critics and poets allude to comic-satyric associations in surprising ways, vases depict fascinating performative connections, and the plays themselves share titles, plots, modes of humor, and occasionally even a chorus of satyrs. Satyric Play uncovers and examines the complex, shifting relationship between comedy and satyr drama, offering insight into the development of these genres and the Greek theatrical experience as a whole.

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9780199950942

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Reviews

While generic relationships have become an important focus in the study of classical Greek theatre, satyr drama, though a partner in the tragic performances, has been relatively neglected. This new study illuminates a vital dimension of satyr drama by tracing its interaction with comedy, both Attic and West-Greek, from the beginnings into Roman times. Original, comprehensive, and engagingly written, Satyric Play will richly reward both newcomers and experienced fans of the genre. * Jeffrey Henderson, Boston University *

While generic relationships have become an important focus in the study of classical Greek theatre, satyr drama, though a partner in the tragic performances, has been relatively neglected. This new study illuminates a vital dimension of satyr drama by tracing its interaction with comedy, both Attic and West-Greek, from the beginnings into Roman times. Original, comprehensive, and engagingly written, Satyric Play will richly reward both newcomers and experienced fans of the genre. --Jeffrey Henderson, Boston University This book is an experiment in putting the most marginal and subordinate dramatic genre into the center of view, imagining it as a dynamic, admired intellectual force. In doing so, Carl Shaw reads as much as he can into each scrap of information, explores the widest possible range of evidence and presses his arguments as far as they will go-and does so with great success. He shows that the comedies of Epicharmus and those of the Athenian fourth century were greatly influenced by Satyr Play, and that in the fourth century Satyr Play paradoxically achieved- during the decline of tragedy-its independence, and broke free within the competition as a newly original genre. --Jeffrey Rusten, Cornell University

While generic relationships have become an important focus in the study of classical Greek theatre, satyr drama, though a partner in the tragic performances, has been relatively neglected. This new study illuminates a vital dimension of satyr drama by tracing its interaction with comedy, both Attic and West-Greek, from the beginnings into Roman times. Original, comprehensive, and engagingly written, Satyric Play will richly reward both newcomers and experienced fans of the genre. Jeffrey Henderson, Boston University

Author Information

Carl Shaw is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Language and Literature at New College of Florida.

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