Plautus: Menaechmi

Dr Gratwick's new book brings new light to bear on the interpretation of Menaechmi and on Plautus's place in the development of European comedy.

Plautus (Author), A. S. Gratwick (Edited by)

9780521349703, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 June 1993

288 pages
20.3 x 12.7 x 1.6 cm, 0.3 kg

"Professional classicists will be impressed not just by the quantity of information presented on its pages, but by the quality and originality of the author's scholarship, the amount of painstaking labor that he has invested in every sophisticated analysis, and the graceful precision of his writing." Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Menaechmi is one of Plautus' liveliest and most entertaining comedies, the main inspiration for Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. Dr Gratwick's edition brings new light to bear on the interpretation of the play and on Plautus' place in the development of European comedy. Central to his treatment is the fact that Plautus was a dramatist who wrote to be heard rather than to be read. The various metres which he subtly and flexibly exploited for musical and dramatic effect are here explained in a way that challenges many received views but also offers the student practical assistance in grappling with the technical problems involved both on stage and in performance. The text has been newly constituted on the basis of a complete reappraisal of the manuscript tradition in the light of scholarship since the Renaissance.

Introduction: 1. The genre
2. This play
3. The MSS and the transmission
4. Scanning and reading Plautus' verse
T. Macci Plavti Menaechnu
Commentary
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]