Description
Book SynopsisAn important addition to contemporary scholarship on Plautus and Plautine comedy, provides new essays and fresh insights from leading scholars A Companion to Plautusis a collection of original essays on the celebrated Old Latin period playwright. A brilliant comic poet, Plautus moved beyond writing Latin versions of Greek plays to create a uniquely Roman cultural experience worthy of contemporary scholarship. Contributions by a team of international scholars explore the theatrical background of Roman comedy, the theory and practice of Plautus' dramatic composition, the relation of Plautus' works to Roman social history, and his influence on later dramatists through the centuries. Responding to renewed modern interest in Plautine studies, the Companion reassesses Plautus' worksplays that are meant to be viewed and experiencedto reveal new meaning and contemporary relevance. Chapters organized thematically offer multiple perspectives on individual plays and enable readers to gain a deepe
Table of ContentsNotes on Contributors x
Acknowledgement xv
Introduction: A 2020 Vision of Plautus 1
George Fredric Franko and Dorota Dutsch
1 The State of Roman Theater, c. 200 BCE 17
Timothy J. Moore
2 Plautus and Greek Drama 31
Sebastiana Nervegna
3 Stages and Stagecraft 47
Anne H. Groton
4 Actors and Audience 61
Isabella Tardin Cardoso
5 Nouo Modo Nouom Aliquid Inuentum: Plautine Priorities 77
David Christenson
6 Plays of Mistaken Identity 93
Costas Panayotakis
7 Plautus and the Marriage Plot 109
Sharon L. James
8 Stock Characters and Stereotypes 123
Shawn O’Bryhim
9 The Servus Callidus in Charge: Plays of Deception 135
Ferdinand Stürner
10 To Hell and Back: Comedy, Cult, and the House of the Meretrix 151
Catherine Connors
11 The Wife in Charge, the Husband Humiliated: Stock Characters in Evolution 165
Barbara K. Gold
12 Archetypal Character Studies: Masculinity and Power 179
Anne Feltovich
13 Plotting the Romance: Plautus’ Rudens, Cistellaria, and Poenulus 193
Stavros Frangoulidis
14 Tragicomedy and Paratragedy: Plautus’s Amphitruo, Captivi, and Rudens 207
Walter Stockert
15 The Language of Plautus 221
Peter Barrios‐Lech
16 Metatheater and Improvisation in Plautus 237
Christopher Bungard
17 Music and Meter in Plautus 251
T.H.M. Gellar‐Goad
18 Comic Technique in Plautus’s Asinaria and Casina 269
Martin T. Dinter
19 Plautus and the Topography of His World 287
Sophia Papaioannou
20 Warfare and Imperialism in and Around Plautus 301
Paul J. Burton
21 Religion in and Around Plautus 317
Seth A. Jeppesen
22 Gender and Sexuality in Plautus 331
Serena S. Witzke
23 Owners and Slaves in and Around Plautus 347
Amy Richlin
24 Slave Labor in Plautus 361
Roberta Stewart
25 Plautus and His Dramatic Successors in the Republican Period 379
Gesine Manuwald
26 Alii Rhetorica Tongent: Plautus and Public Speech 393
Emilia A. Barbiero
27 The Textual Tradition of Plautus 407
Rolando Ferri
28 The Medieval Reception of Plautus’s Aulularia: Querolus and Vitalis Blesensis 419
Antony Augoustakis
29 From Ferrara to Venice: Plautus in Vernacular and Early Italian Comedy (1486–1530) 429
Gianni Guastella
30 Plautus in Early Modern England 445
George Fredric Franko
31 Reception Today: Theater and Movies 461
Rodrigo T. Goncalves
32 Trends in Plautus Translation 473
James Tatum
Index 489
Index Locorum Plautinorum 495
