Parody, Politics and the Populace in Greek Old Comedy

This book argues that Old Comedy's parodic and non-parodic engagement with tragedy, satyr play, and contemporary lyric is geared to enhancing its own status as the preeminent discourse on Athenian art, politics and society. Donald Sells locates the enduring significance of parody in the specific cultural, social and political subtexts that often frame Old Comedy's bold experiments with other genres and drive its rapid evolution in the late fifth century. Close analysis of verbal, visual and narrative strategies reveals the importance of parody and literary appropriation to the particular cultural and political agendas of specific plays.
This study's broader, more flexible definition of parody as a visual - not just verbal - and multi-coded performance represents an important new step in understanding a phenomenon whose richness and diversity exceeds the primarily textual and literary terms by which it is traditionally understood.

Donald Sells is Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Michigan, USA. He has published widely on ancient comedy.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Mysian Telephus and the Aristophanic Brand
2. Visualizing the Comic
3. Members Only? Satyrism and Satire in Late Fifth-Century Comedy
4. Poetic Failure and Comic Success in Aristophanes' Peace
5. Old Comedy and Lyric Poetry
6. The Feminine Mistake: Household Economy in Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index Locorum
Index