Greek Laughter A Study of Cultural Psychology from Homer to Early Christianity 1st Edition by Stephen Halliwell ISBN 978-0521717748 0521717744
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Product details:
ISBN 10: 0521717744
ISBN 13: 978-0521717748
Author: Stephen Halliwell
The first book to offer an integrated reading of ancient Greek attitudes to laughter. Taking material from various genres and contexts, the book analyses both the theory and the practice of laughter as a revealing expression of Greek values and mentalities. Greek society developed distinctive institutions for the celebration of laughter as a capacity which could bridge the gap between humans and gods; but it also feared laughter for its power to expose individuals and groups to shame and even violence. Caught between ideas of pleasure and pain, friendship and enmity, laughter became a theme of recurrent interest in various contexts. Employing a sophisticated model of cultural history, Stephen Halliwell traces elaborations of the theme in a series of important texts: ranging far beyond modern accounts of ‘humour’, he shows how perceptions of laughter helped to shape Greek conceptions of the body, the mind and the meaning of life.
Table of contents:
- Introduction: Greek Laughter in Theory and Practice
Nature and Culture, Body and Mind
The Dialectic of Play and Seriousness
To Laugh or Not to Laugh?
2. Inside and Outside Morality: The Laughter of the Gods and Homeric Men
Between Tragedy and the Desire to Kill: The Range of Homeric Laughter
Sacred Conflict and Joy in the Iliad
Thersites and the Dynamics of Laughter
Sex and Merriment on Mount Olympus
From Corruption to Madness: The Story of the Suitors
Afterword: Achilles’ Only Smile
3. The Excitement of the Banquet and the Rejection of Death
Dreaming of Immortality
The Tensions Faced: Intimacy and Opposition
The Satyrical and Tragic Versions of Banquet Laughter
The Complexities of Socrates: Xenophon’s Symposium
4. Ritual Laughter and the Renewal of Life
Worshipping the Gods with Laughter
A Map of Ritual Laughter
Models and Interpretations
Is Ancient Comedy a Form of Ritual Laughter?
5. Aischrology, Shame, and Ancient Comedy
Who is Ashamed by Shameless Speech?
The Sociolinguistics of Aischrology
The Speaking Habits of Theophrastus’ Characters
The Shamelessness of Aristophanes
6. Greek Philosophy and the Ethics of Mockery
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Tags: Stephen Halliwell, Greek Laughter, A Study, Cultural Psychology