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A dramatic fragment is not merely a string of dislocated words but a piece of theatre history which may encapsulate an important plot motif or a recurrent theme of the corresponding dramatic genre. Tragic or comic fragments cannot be properly appreciated if examined in isolation. They must constantly be viewed in correlation and comparison with other fragments and with the fully preserved plays. Thus they find a place in the complex (though only partially reconstructed) network of intertextual relations, mutual influences, and creative borrowings among the authors of ancient drama. Instead of puzzling scraps, fragments become materials for the construction of literary history. A good example of this process of “conversation” between fragments and extant plays will be investigated in the present paper. In a number of comic fragments and testimonia, from different periods in the history of Attic comedy, Heracles is shown putting up as a guest at an inn or a similar establishment and undergoing amusing adventures there, which bring out his typical comic traits. In the "Zeus Kakoumenos" by Plato Comicus (probably late 5th or early 4th century) the hero was lured into playing a game of kottabos with a pretty wench, while the crafty innkeeper strove to relieve Heracles of his valuable possessions. Later, in Middle Comedy, Eubulus’ "Amaltheia" was also set in an inn, with the title heroine in the role of the tight-fisted publican. This time it was Heracles who stole the innkeeper’s savings — a reversal of the scenario of Plato’s comedy. In Antiphanes’ "Omphale" the household of the mythical queen of Lydia may also have been comically presented as an inn or a tavern, to which Heracles was attracted because of the quality of the food. The remains of all three comedies indicate a series of common motifs by means of which the main situation was developed: Heracles displayed his impetuous sensuality and keen appetites for food or sex, declared his culinary preferences or commented on the menu, and had problematic financial transactions with the host. Comparative study of these fragments thus helps to trace a comic theme (“Heracles at the inn”) which must have been operative in the Attic theatre for decades. Perhaps this theme arose as a more popular variation of the standard routine of “Heracles at the symposion”, which was very common both in myth and in drama. The low-brow tavern or inn replaced the aristocratic symposion, and Heracles’ marginal position as an uninvited or parasitic guest was reflected in his troubled monetary dealings with the landlord. It is against this background that the side-splitting scene of Frogs 549–578 can be read: Dionysus, in the guise of Heracles, comes upon an inn in the underworld and confronts two angry female innkeepers, who blame the supposed “Heracles” for the havoc he wreaked during an earlier visit to their establishment. The familiar ingredients of “Heracles at the inn” are again present: Heracles’ unrestrained appetite, a long list of foodstuffs he consumed, and the hero’s financial problems. But this time the comic situation is acted out with theatrical self-consciousness, as though a play within the play; the standard motifs are narrated as incidents of a past occasion, and “Heracles” is a role performed by Dionysus, the god of drama, in theatrical disguise. Aristophanes offers a meta-version of the “Heracles at the inn” routine, inserted as a miniature comic play within Dionysus’ adventures. As in other scenes of the first part of the Frogs (e.g. 503ff., developing the stock theme of “Heracles cheated of his meal”), Dionysus, in performing Heracles’ part, experiences the typical situations which the character of Heracles encountered on the Attic comic stage. In this case, the study of fragments is crucial for the proper interpretation and appreciation of a scene in a canonical play.
2021 •
This article aims to offer a contribution to the study of the reception of metrical forms and related performative features from classical to Renaissance tragedy. In particular, it focuses on how the reader of ancient Greek drama perceived its performative varieties, and therefore it is concerned with the continental prehistory of the English reception of the lyrical performance of Greek tragedy. It first deals with how Greek plays were presented in printed editions, and then moves on to consider Aristotle's Poetics with regard to the description of the linguistic resources of the tragic poiesis, in particular the use of rhythmos, metron, and melos, and their varying pertinence to the different structures of tragedy. In this respect, the article discusses a curious misreading of a passage of the Poetics that was to affect its interpretation as well as the reception of the notion of tragedy and the reuses of ancient versifications over time. Keywords: Greek tragedy; Aristotle'...
1997 •
Les decouvertes papyrologiques ont permis de reconstituer et de confirmer la structure de base du roman grec et d'avoir une idee de l'aspect de la litterature ancienne. Dans cet article, l'auteur aborde une question methodologique : quels sont les papyri qui peuvent facilement etre qualifies de fragments de romans et quels sont ceux qui posent probleme ? Cet etude est illustree par une liste detaillee des fragments en question
2012 •
A. Markantonatos ed. Brill's Companion to Sophocles (Leiden, 2012) 191-209
Sophocles: fragments and lost tragedieshttps://www.critical-stages.org/
Fragments of Thought About the Tragic Fragments: Theodoros Terzopoulos' Views on Fragmentary Greek Tragedy2021 •
In 2003, Theodoros Terzopoulos, the internationally acclaimed Greek theatre director, staged a performance which was based on fragments of ancient Greek dramas written by Aeschylus; the play he created was called Epigonoi. Seventeen years later-on the occasion of an interview, parts of which compose this article-Terzopoulos revisited that performance and made a fresh appraisal of it: he shared his thoughts on concepts like the fragment, the fragmented narrative and the fragmented life; he related the ancient, fragmented texts with the essence of myths and the darkness of tragedy; and he contemplated on their connection with the ubiquitous notions of trauma and of vacuum. In accordance with the article's subject matter, for the presentation of Terzopoulos' fragments of thought, a dictum by Ronald Barthes was followed: "Incoherence seems to me preferable to a distorting order."
2003 •
International Journal of Neutrosophic Science (IJNS)
A New Type of Neutrosophic Set in Pythagorean Fuzzy Environment and Applications to Multi-criteria Decision Making2023 •
IDEAS. Suplemento de La Gaceta de la Iberosfera
Homenaje y reproche a Alain de Benoist (por sus 80 años)2023 •
Ukrainian Historical Review (2)
Food, Family, and the Reformation: From Family to Banquet Portrait in the Art of Early Modern Netherlands (in Ukrainian)2023 •
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Quaderns Revista De Traduccio
Subtitle reading speeds in different languages : the case of Lethal Weapon2013 •
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Non-linear viscoelastic laws for soft biological tissues2000 •
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Vertical disconjugacy during reading in dyslexic and non-dyslexic children2018 •
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2014 •
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Scientific Research and Essays
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