EBOOK Cratinus and the Art of Comedy

Cratinus, one of the lost great poets of fifth-century Athenian comedy, had a        formative influence on the comic genre, including Aristophanes himself. Using a        methodologically innovative approach, Emmanuela Bakola studies the surviving        fragments of Cratinus' plays and offers a thorough analysis of the multifaceted art        of this poet and his place in the history of comedy. Issues which she addresses        include the creation of a poetic personality within a performative tradition of        fierceinterpoetic rivalry; the play at the boundaries of the comic genre and the        interaction with satyr drama and tragedy, especially Aeschylus; stagecraft and        dramaturgy; comic plot-construction and characterization; the author's reflection on        his immediate political, social and intellectual context. Aswell as providing        insight into Cratinus, her book enriches our understanding of fifth-century Athenian        comedy in a dynamic evolving environment.