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Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Harry Levin--one of America's major literary critics--offers a brilliant and original study of the whole world of comedy, concentrating on playwrights through the centuries, from Aristophanes and Plautus in classical times to Bernard Shaw and Bertolt Brecht and their recent successors.
Viewing the comic repertory as a richly varied yet broadly unified whole, Levin provides a synthesis of theories and practice. Isolating two fundamental aspects of comedy--the ludicrous and irreverent playboy, whom we laugh with, and the ridiculous and forbidding killjoy, whom we laugh at--he traces the dialectical interplay of these components throughout history and across various cultures and media. While mainly focusing on the plays and the stage, with discussions of such major dramatists as Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Moli�re, and William Congreve, Levin also includes essays on such related topics as humor, satire, and games.

Language: English

Pages: 224

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Release: September 08, 1988

ISBN: 0195048776

ISBN 13: 9780195048773

Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Harry Levin--one of America's major literary critics--offers a brilliant and original study of the whole world of comedy, concentrating on playwrights through the centuries, from Aristophanes and Plautus in classical times to Bernard Shaw and Bertolt Brecht and their recent successors.
Viewing the comic repertory as a richly varied yet broadly unified whole, Levin provides a synthesis of theories and practice. Isolating two fundamental aspects of comedy--the ludicrous and irreverent playboy, whom we laugh with, and the ridiculous and forbidding killjoy, whom we laugh at--he traces the dialectical interplay of these components throughout history and across various cultures and media. While mainly focusing on the plays and the stage, with discussions of such major dramatists as Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Moli�re, and William Congreve, Levin also includes essays on such related topics as humor, satire, and games.

Language: English

Pages: 224

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Release: September 08, 1988

ISBN: 0195048776

ISBN 13: 9780195048773

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