CLASS 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Dio Chrysostom, Role Reversal, Ancient Greek Comedy
Document Summary
Whether we really can hear the laughter of the past. When we read ancient material, we should make an effort to hear the laughter of the past in order to reconstruct the history of human sensibilities. We should try, but we need to know that our efforts will have limited results. Protocols of laughter (who, when, at what) allow us to write a denser description of the past, but we should be cautious. Mark twain connecticut yankee on king"s arthur court, listening to a witty courtier "i have never heard so many old played-out jokes strung together in my life. It seemed particularly sad to sit there 1300 years before i was born, and listen again to the poor, flat, worm-eaten jokes. " Please be serious for just a moment because you are always full of frivolity; in fact, one may say that you are never found wanting when it comes to fun and frivolity unlike certain barbarians. "
