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UID:434@harvard-yenching.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260325T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260325T130000
DTSTAMP:20260206T154650Z
URL:https://www.harvard-yenching.org/events/comic-wisdom-the-case-of-arist
 ophanes/
SUMMARY:Comic Wisdom: The Case of Aristophanes
DESCRIPTION:In the fifth century\, comic and tragic theatre were integral t
 o the city’s religious festivals. In celebrating the civic gods\, and Di
 onysus the god of theatre in particular\, the staging of dramas had religi
 ous and political significance. When Plato criticizes poetry a century lat
 er\, he is not attacking drama or recitals of Homeric epics as idle amusem
 ent\, but as the spiritual and moral foundation of Greek city-states. He w
 ishes to replace that foundation by his philosophy and a new theology.\n\n
 Plato’s critique treats Greek poetry as a homogeneous tradition. This ob
 scures the fact that poets were often in conscious rivalry both within and
  across genres. Comic playwrights would make fun of each other besides moc
 king tragic poets. The heterogeneity of poetic practice opens up the possi
 bility that parts of its tradition might actually be immune to Plato’s c
 ritique or potentially capable of responding to it. My project makes such 
 a case for the playwright of Old Comedy\, Aristophanes. I argue that in hi
 s extant plays we can discern what I call a kind of comic wisdom: an under
 standing of the nature of human community that both results in and makes u
 se of a comic attitude towards human things. Aristophanes\, in other words
 \, sees his role as comic poet as indispensable and beneficial to the city
 .\n\nThe first part of my talk will introduce some contemporary philosophi
 cal theories on humor. In the second part\, I apply those theories to some
  representative passages in Aristophanes’ plays and suggest that the maj
 ority of his jokes and the construction of the plot have at least two majo
 r functions. One is mockery of socially undesirable behavior. The other ma
 kes the comic stage a site of wish fulfillment\, where jokes lend public v
 oice to otherwise repressed desires. Paradoxically\, it is in the temporar
 y suspension of the conventions and laws of the city-state that Aristophan
 es strengthens them. In the last part\, I contrast Aristophanes’ attitud
 e towards laughter with Plato’s and Aristotle’s general disapproval of
  it and evaluate their respective positions.
CATEGORIES:Visiting Scholar Talks
LOCATION:Common Room (#136)\, 2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambridge\, MA\, United S
 tates
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