Greek Comedy (U02178)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : HCA-3-GKCOM

Comedy is one of the oldest established literary genres, and like epic and tragedy, it is a legacy from the Greeks. The course will focus upon a close reading, in the original, of two plays. In Session 2004/05 these will be, for Old Comedy, Aristophanes' 'Lysistrata', and for New Comedy, Menander's 'Dyscolus' (but the Old Comedy text may vary from year to year, according to the interest of students and the availability of good commentaries). Both plays are representatives of the two broad types of literary Comedy recognised by the ancients, two types which developed not alongside one another, but in succession. Beyond regular translation and commentary of the Greek, the course will concentrate upon the historical and social contexts of the plays, and illustrate their significant differences. More broadly, the course will explore what may be the fundamental tension within the genre, viz. the desire to raise a laugh, on the one hand, and on the other, the literary pretences of a work and the pull to unity they impose. In Old Comedy, a less realistic and unified structure often favours a more humorous product, whereas in New Comedy, the ancestor to our sit-coms, overt humour often gives way before a less fantastical but more unified plot and diction. Finally, and allowing for time, we will consider to what extent this scheme is still applicable today, illustrating it by comparison with contemporary comedies.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : A pass in Greek 2A and Greek 2B, with an average of 50% or above in the two courses combined.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled on this course, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580 in order for approval to be obtained.

? Costs : 2 set texts

Variants

? This course has variants for part year visiting students, as follows

Greek Comedy (VS1) (Not being delivered)

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Greek, (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	10:00	10:50	Central
Lecture	Thursday	10:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will have covered:-
- further consolidation of the student's grasp of the Greek language, in particular forms of colloquial Attic Greek, not excluding obscenity (!);
- study of Comedy as a dramatic literary genre, the development of that genre from Aristophanes to Menander, and its relation to other literary genres and to humour in general;
- the social dimension of Greek Comedy, especially its festival setting and its relation to gender issues and politics;
- some attention to the staging and production of ancient drama;
- some knowledge of Greek or Athenian history, and social history;
- bibliographical and research skills to enable students to pursue their more specific interests arising from the plays.

The course objectives overlap in part with the lectures on Comedy in the Classics in translation for sub-honours, but the relation is rather complementary, that of introduction versus intermediate or advanced level of study: where the Classics in translation lectures are part of a broad introductory survey, this course studies much more closely a smaller section of material in the original Greek, with much greater attention to detail. Otherwise, there is no overlap with any other courses on offer, but it does complement the objectives of Greek History, Tragedy, and Roman Comedy.

Transferable skills:-
- general writing skills (most of the work involves translation);
- ability to generate critical and analytic summaries;
- memorisation;
- independent research and reflection on a topic of the student's choosing.