A Cultural History of Comedy

Professor Andrew McConnell Stott, Professor Eric Weitz (Herausgeber)

Media-Kombination

2024
Bloomsbury Academic
978-1-350-44097-5 (ISBN)

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How has our expression, use and reception of comedy developed from antiquity to the present day? What role has it occupied in Western culture, and what can it tell us about how society has changed?

In a work that spans 2,500 years, these ambitious questions are addressed by 55 experts, each contributing their overview of a theme applied to a period in history. The volumes describe various manifestations of comedy, its use in religion, theatre and literature, and its historical and philosophical significance.

Individual volume editors ensure the cohesion of the whole, and to make it as easy as possible to use, chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six.

The six volumes cover: 1. – Antiquity (500 BCE - 1000 AD); 2. – Middle Ages (1000 - 1400); 3. – Early Modern Age (1400 - 1650) ; 4. – Age of Enlightenment (1650 - 1800); 5. – Age of Empire (1800 - 1920); 6. – Modern Age (1920 – present).

Themes (and chapter titles) are: Form; Theory; Praxis; Identities; The Body; Politics and Power; Laughter; and Ethics.

The page extent is approximately 1,824pp with c. 191 illustrations. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors, a series preface and an introduction, and concludes with Notes, Bibliography and an Index.

The Cultural Histories Series
A Cultural History of Comedy is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com).

Andrew McConnell Stott is Dean of Undergraduate Education and Professor of English at the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, USA. A writer on British popular culture from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, his publications include Comedy (2005, 2014); The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness, and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian (2009); and The Poet and the Vampyre: The Curse of Byron and the Birth of Literature’s Greatest Monsters (2014). Eric Weitz is the School Director for Undergraduate Teaching and Learning, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His publications include The Cambridge Introduction to Comedy (2009), Theatre and Laughter (2015), For the Sake of Sanity: Doing Things with Humour in Irish Performance (2014), and The Power of Laughter: Comedy and Contemporary Irish Theatre (2004).

Volume 1: A Cultural History of Comedy in Antiquity
Edited by Michael Ewans, University of Newcastle, Australia
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Series Preface
Comedy Title Abbreviations
Other Abbreviations
Introduction, Michael Ewans (University of Newcastle, Australia)
1. Form, Gesine Manuwald (University College London, UK)
2. Theory, Caleb M. X. Dance (Washington and Lee University, USA)
3. Praxis, Michael Ewans (University of Newcastle, Australia)
4. Identities, Natalia Tsoumpra (University of Glasgow, UK)
5. The Body, Louise Peacock (De Montfort University, UK)
6. Politics and Power, Isabel Ruffell (University of Glasgow, UK)
7. Laughter, Marcel Lysgaard Lech (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
8. Ethics
— Ethics in Greek Comedy, Valeria Cinaglia (University of Exeter, UK)
— Ethics in Roman Comedy, Serena S. Witzke (Wesleyan University, USA)
Notes
References
Index

Volume 2: A Cultural History of Comedy in the Middle Ages
Edited by Martha Bayless, University of Oregon, USA
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Series Preface
Editor’s Acknowledgments
Introduction: Comedy in the Middle Ages: Answers and Questions, Martha Bayless (University of Oregon, USA)
1. Form: Its Expressions and Manifestations, Olle Ferm (Stockholm University, Sweden)
2. Theory: Comedy Humbled and Exalted, Johan Verberckmoes (KU Leuven, Belgium)
3. Praxis: The Location and Performance of Comedy, Katherine A. Brown (University of Notre Dame, USA)
4. Identity, John DuVal (University of Arkansas, USA)
5. The Body: Unstable, Gendered, Theorized, Susan Signe Morrison (Texas State University, USA)
6. Politics: Comic Power, Foolish Men, and Holy Women, Max Harris (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)
7. Laughter: A Comedic Approach, Sebastian Coxon (University College London, UK)
8. Ethics: Ethical Dimensions of Medieval Comedy, Nicolino Applauso (Loyola University Maryland, USA and Morgan State University, USA)
Notes
References
Index

Volume 3: A Cultural History of Comedy in the Early Modern Age
Edited by Andrew McConnell Stott, University of Southern California, USA
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Series Preface
Note on Texts
Introduction, Andrew McConnell Stott (University of Southern California, USA)
1. Form, Megan Herrold (University of Southern California, USA)
2. Theory, James Loxley (University of Edinburgh, UK)
3. Praxis, Lucy Munro (Kings College London, UK)
4. Identities, Maya Mathur (University of Mary Washington, USA)
5. The Body, Will Stockton (Clemson University, USA)
6. Politics and Power, Douglas Bruster (University of Texas at Austin, USA)
7. Laughter, Indira Ghose (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
8. Ethics, Stephen Wisker (Middle Georgia State University, USA)
Notes
References
Index

Volume 4: A Cultural History of Comedy in the Age of Enlightenment
Edited by Elizabeth Kraft, University of Georgia, USA
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Editor’s Acknowledgments
Series Preface
Introduction, Elizabeth Kraft (University of Georgia, USA)
1. Form, Brian Corman (University of Toronto, Canada)
2. Theory, Jean I. Marsden (University of Connecticut, USA)
3. Praxis: The Practice of Comedy in the Restoration and Eighteenth Century, Laura J. Rosenthal (University of Maryland, USA)
4. Identities: Deception, Discovery, and the Paradox of the Dark Lantern, Heather Ladd (Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada)
5. The Body: Performing Comic Eighteenth-Century Embodiment, Misty G. Anderson (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA)
6. Politics and Power, Aparna Gollapudi (Colorado State University, USA)
7. Laughter: Enlightenment Philosophies of Laughter, from Superiority Theory to Incongruity Theory, Andrew Benjamin Bricker (Ghent University, Belgium)
8. Ethics, Melvyn New (University of Florida, USA)
Notes
References
Index

Volume 5: A Cultural History of Comedy in the Age of Empire
Edited by Matthew Kaiser, University of California, Merced, USA
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Series Preface
Introduction: Comic Frames in the Age of Empire, Matthew Kaiser (University of California, Merced, USA)
1. Form: An Empire of Jokes in the Age of American Expansion, Todd Nathan Thompson (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA)
2. Theory: Deadpan and Comedy Theory, Sarah Balkin (University of Melbourne, Australia)
3. Praxis: A Comedy Revolution, Milena Kozic (Independent scholar, Serbia)
4. Identity: Popular Performance from Peoria to Paris, Will Visconti (University of Sydney, Australia)
5. The Body: From Grimaldi to Chaplin, Sara Lodge (University of St Andrews, UK)
6. Politics and Power: Nineteenth-Century American Humor, Gregg Camfield (University of California, Merced, USA)
7. Laughter: The Ugly History, Matthew Kaiser (University of California, Merced, USA)
8. Ethics: Dickensian Satire and Mealtime Shame, Rob Jacklosky (College of Mount Saint Vincent, USA) and Matthew Kaiser (University of California, Merced, USA)
Notes
References
Index

Volume 6: A Cultural History of Comedy in the Modern Age
Edited by Louise Peacock, De Montfort University, UK
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Series Preface
Introduction, Louise Peacock (De Montfort University, UK)
1. Form, Brett Mills (University of East Anglia, UK)
2. Theory, Peter Buse (University of Liverpool, UK)
3. Praxis: ‘If You Laugh at Something, Then I’ll Potentially Keep It’: The Praxis of Live Comedy, Oliver Double (University of Kent, UK)
4. Identity: Laughs Last—Gender, Power, and Comic Identity, Joanne Gilbert (Alma College, USA)
5. The Body, Louise Peacock (De Montfort University, UK)
6. Politics and Power, Chris Vognar (Independent scholar, USA)
7. Laughter, Eric Weitz (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
8. Ethics, Michael Pickering (Loughborough University, UK)
Notes
References
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	2.5.2024
Reihe/Serie	The Cultural Histories Series
Zusatzinfo	191 bw illus
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Lyrik / Dramatik ► Dramatik / Theater
	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Theater / Ballett
	Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Lexikon / Chroniken
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
ISBN-10	1-350-44097-3 / 1350440973
ISBN-13	978-1-350-44097-5 / 9781350440975
Zustand	Neuware