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Van Aristophanes Tot Menander

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Van Aristophanes Tot Menander
Arnott, W.G., From Aristophanes to Menander, G & R 19 (1972), 65-80

Analyse: Van Aristophanes tot Menander.

Aristophanes’ Kikkers is het laatste bestaande toneelstuk van de Oude Komedie. Het plot is uitweidend, het onderwerp is intens verbonden aan de stad, waarin het stuk werd bedacht, en de structuur is traditioneel en formeel aan de elementen van de Oude Komedie, zoals de agon en de parabasis. Het stuk won de eerste prijs. Net 89 jaar later won Menander de eerste prijs in hetzelfde festival met de Dyskolos, wat het eerste bestaande stuk is van de Nieuwe Komedie. Het plot is stevig samenhoudend, het heeft een universeel onderwerp en de structuur wordt geregeerd door nieuwe formele elementen. Kikkers had een koor van beginners, dat speciaal gecomponeerde teksten zong, die belangrijk waren voor het plot, en danste tussen de dialoogscènes; hun leider zorgde voor de parabasis. Dat is vervangen in Menander door slechts een κωμος van dronken jonge mannen, die geen enkele relevantie hebben tot het plot en die enkel het publiek moeten entertainen tussen de bedrijven. Hun tekst was geïmproviseerd en werd niet bewaard.

Wat is er gebeurd tussen de Kikkers en de Dyskolos? Dat is moeilijk te vertellen, omdat van de 800 stukken, die geschreven werden in die tussenperiode, er maar twee aan ons zijn overgeleverd in origineel Grieks, nl. Aristophanes’ laatste bestaande stukken, de Ecclesiazusae en de Plutus, en twee of drie mogelijk deels overgeleverd door aanpassingen van Plautus. Overigens beschikken we over titels en duizenden fragmenten, die ons weinig vertellen over de context van het drama. De tussenperiode, die de Midden Komedie wordt genoemd, heeft omzichtigheid nodig om begrepen te worden. We moeten de juiste extracten bestuderen voor bewijzen. Maar er bestaan vele valstrikken waarin reeds menig geleerde in vast heeft gezeten. Nadat we ons van deze gewaar zijn, kunnen we ons pas een beeld proberen te vormen van de Midden Komedie.
De Midden Komedie is een



Bibliography: English, M., Aristophanes ' Frogs: Brek-kek-kek-kek ! On Broasdway, AJPh 126 (2005), 127-133 Grafinger, Ch.M., Niebuhrs Antrag zur Entlehnung der Aristophanes-Handschrift aus Ravenna, RhM 148 (2005), 107-112 Culpepper Stroup, S., Designing Women: Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and the “Hetairization” of the Greek Wife, Arethusa 37 (2004), 37-73 McGlew, J.F., “Speak on my Behalf”: Persuasion and Purification in Aristophanes’ Wasps, Arethusa 37 (2004), 11-36 Papageorgiou, N., Ambiguities in kreitton logos, JCS 4 (2004), 284-294 Rosen, R.M., Aristophanes’ Frogs and the Contest of Homer and Hesiod, TAPhA 134 (2004), 295-322 Scholtz, A., Friends, lovers, flatteres: demopholic courtship in Aristophanes’ Knight, TAPhA 134 (2004), 263-293 Willi, A., New language for a new comedy: a linguistic approach to Aritophanes’ Plutus, PCPhs 49 (2003-2004), 40-73 Bossi, F., Ananio, Ipponatte (ed Aristofane), Eikasmos 14 (2003), 27-31 Hummel, P., Aristophane e le lexique du combat, QUCC 73 (2003), 119-120

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