Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 420-441).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1986. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [153]-165.

The thesis examines the technique of humour of the old comedians other than Aristophanes, concentrating particularly upon the four for whom we have the best evidence, viz. Cratinus, Eupolis, Pherecrates and Plato. The internal and external evidence for the kind of humour they employed is considered under five principal groupings, viz. The Visual Elements, Ridicule and Criticism, Physical Humour, Parody and Borrowings, and Imagery, Vocabulary and Verbal Devices. Within these main groupings there are many sub-divisions under which the examples of particular techniques are collected and discussed. A list of references is normally given, unless the discussion itself has already listed all examples. Several longer fragments are given detailed consideration and there is an index of fragments discussed. Account is taken of the most recently discovered fragments published in Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Many conclusions relate to limited techniques or even to particular fragments, but in broad terms we can see that Cratinus plays' had varied political, literary, philosophical and social themes and that some of his burlesques were allegories. Criticism and invective were strongly represented, there was some obscenity, parody tended to be of homer and the early poets rather than of Fifth Century Tragedy, and verbal inventiveness and word-play were prominent. Cratinus had much to say of his rivals and himself. Eupolis overriding interest was in topical criticism and he had no taste for fantasy and mythological burlesque. He shows no signs of full-scale criticism of Tragedy, but some interest in lyric poetry and in philosophy is apparent. He exploited sexual and excretory humour, but was less given to coining words than Crantius. Pherecrates avoided political criticism on the scale of Cratinus and Eupolis attacks and composed rather plays of everyday life. Dietary humour and the Golden Age these are well attested in his work, but he used obscenity with some restraint. He shows but a listed interest in parody. Plato wrote both in the Old and Middle Comedy style, composing burlesques, political plays and literary comedies. Burlesques with erotic themes were particularly to his liking (of. Aleseus Comicus), and sexual humour was probably an important part of his technique. Plato was capable in his use of imagery and verbal humour. Strattis provides our best evidence for burlescue of Tragedy on a large scale.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF RORY LEAHY, for the Master of Fine Arts degree in THEATER, presented on *MARCH 28, 2017, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: JOURNEY TOWARDS ADEQUACY: THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF TORAK THE INADEQUATE MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Jacob Juntunen This thesis documents the development of my play Torak The Inadequate from its earliest conception to its full production performed by the SIUC Department of Theater in its Christian H. Moe Laboratory space in March of 2017. The play is a synthesis of pulp fantasy, social commentary, and comedy that tells the story of a young hunter-gatherer living in ancient times named Torak, who with his unlikely companions Ragnor and Belit, must journey across the prehistoric world to find a new home. Chapter One explores the play’s beginnings, influences from other stories and genre elements and rough outline. Chapter Two concerns the writing and revision processes themselves. Chapter Three deals with the pre-production of the SIUC rendition of the show. Chapter Four details the production, from auditions to performance. Chapter Five is an artistic autobiography in which I put Torak in the larget context of my work both before my MFA program and after. The production script of Torak as well as production photos will serve as appendices.

No description available.

Throughout her novels, Jane Austen exhibits an acute awareness of the problems facing the sensitive, intelligent women of her day in a society which effectively keeps them in a position of inferiority. She exposes their faulty moral training, their inadequate education, their lack of opportunity for independence or any gainful employment, their social and economic dependence on the male and the resulting, inevitable and often defective preparation for marriage around which their youth is centered. Despite her concern for the individual woman, from which tragic implications occasionally emerge, her focus remains on society as a whole, and especially on the problems of male egoism and sentimentalism which block, by the subjugation of women, the evolution of a freer and possibly more creative society. All these social manifestations seem to be manifestations of the comic form as defined by such critics as George Meredith, Henri Bergson, Susanne Langer and particularly Northrop Frye, who specifically outlines the archetypal pattern of comic action. The subjection of women can be seen as the "absurd or irrational law" which Frye contends the action of comedy moves toward breaking; in Bergson's terms, it is an example of something mechanical, automatic and rigid superimposed on living society, which only laughter can remove; in Meredith's, the cause of "the basic insincerity of the relations between the sexes," and a demonstration of the vanity, self-deception and lack of consideration for others, which he considers legitimate targets for the Comic Spirit; in Langer's, a grave threat to "the continuous balance of sheer vitality that belongs to society" and which it is the function of comedy to maintain. Parents and all other members of the society, whether young or old, male or female, who consciously or unconsciously endorse the concept of female inferiority, are identifiable as the obstructing, usurping characters who, in Frye's terms, are in control at the beginning of a comedy. The comic heroine's struggle for self-realization against the obstacles they place in her path—particularly her defective and misdirected education and the traditional pattern of courtship to which they try to force her to conform—constitutes the comic action. The comic resolution is, of course, her eventual victory which enables her to find self-fulfilment in the marriage of her choice. Ever since its emergence as a form from the ancient Greek death-and-resurrection rites, comedy has been a celebration of life, of the absolute value of the group and of the forces through which society is perpetually regenerated. As the comic form has evolved, however, its social and moral implications have widened. Bergson and Meredith believe that comedy, because it works toward removing the anti-social, is "a premise to civilization." Jane Austen's novels reflect this view and demonstrate Frye's parallel contention that the movement of comedy is toward a more ideal society which forms around the redemptive marriage of the hero and heroine and which tends to include rather than reject the obstructing characters. Based on the potential equality of men and women, the new society envisioned at the conclusion of Jane Austen's novels replaces the old, anti-social isolation with a new and vital communication among the members, and thus provides a framework within which men and women can work together, each contributing his special talents toward the public interest. Since this new, ideal society is not only the goal of the comic action but also the only area in which the heroine can find self-realization, it represents the ultimate conjunction of the comic form and the role of the comic heroine to be found in Jane Austen's work. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

A boujee bride-to-be must find a way to break a family curse meant to ruin the success of her marriage.

Improvisational theater can tell us much about the driving social and cultural forces behind collaboration and collective constructions of reality, as well as the sorts of behaviors and practices that bolster their efficacy. The collaboration of the performers on generating a comedic piece of theater spontaneously from audience suggestions in a long improvisation creates a sense of what Victor Turner called communitas for the performers. That phenomenon can create a larger sense of socio-emotional unity between the audience and performers. Turning an anthropological lens on comedy theater, this presentation explores the performer-audience dynamic and its impact on the success of an improvised comedic performance. Research was conducted through an ethnography of improvisational acting troupes and their audiences in Rochester, New York, and presents a series of unique situated references that help delineate a social bond between the audience and performers, or a "micro" version of what Gary Allan Fine and Michaela DeSoucey term a "joking culture."

A obra visa a estudar as comédias de Sá de Miranda, situando-as dentro do contexto paradigmático que as informa e fundamenta. / The book consists on a study of the comedias by Sá de Miranda, placed in the paradigmatic context that inspires and supports them.

A obra visa a estudar as comédias de Sá de Miranda, situando-as dentro do contexto paradigmático que as informa e fundamenta. / The book consists on a study of the comedias by Sá de Miranda, placed in the paradigmatic context that inspires and supports them.