Plautus: Pseudolus

This new commentary on Pseudolus provides an excellent introduction to current trends and advances in the study of Roman comedy.

David Christenson (Author)

9780521766241, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 July 2020

414 pages
22.2 x 14.4 x 2.5 cm, 0.59 kg

'Christenson's commentary is a real achievement, and probably the best commentary on Pseudolus that we have … I recommend this commentary very highly.' Wolfgang D.C. De Melo, Resenas Reviews

Pseudolus of all Plautus' comedies most fully reveals its author's metapoetics. As its eponymous clever slave telegraphs his every move to spectators, Pseudolus highlights the aesthetic, social, and performative priorities of Plautine comedy: brilliant linguistic play, creative appropriation of comic tradition, interrogation of convention and social norms, the projection of an air of improvisation and a fresh comic universe, and exploration of dramatic mimesis itself. The extensive Introduction analyses Plautus' delightful comedy as a stage-performance, the comic playwright's translation and adaptation practices, his innovative deployment of language and metrical and musical virtuosity, as well as the play's transmission and reception. In addition to detailed elucidation of the Latin text, the Commentary examines Pseudolus as a lens into Roman slave society at the time of its debut at the Megalensian festival of 191 BCE. The edition engages throughout with current criticism and issues of interest to both students and scholars.

Introduction
PSEVDOLVS
Commentary.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]