WRIGHT, J.,
Dancing in Chains: The Stylistic Unity of the Comoedia Palliata.
American Academy in Rome, Rome, 1974. XIII,230p. Cloth wrps. With author’s dedication on free endpaper. Series: Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. XXV. (Rare).'Wright begins by making Plautus illustrate Plautus. Most. 1-8 is a vivid and spontaneous-seeming exchange, yet the diction is (...) economical and formulaic, though carefully chosen for aural effects. (...) this is shown by full citation and precise discussion of parallels which here as elsewhere (...) are not new but which, because of the compression of the traditional commentary or edition, are not usually worked through in this way. (...) it directs attention to the other writers of 'palliatae'. (...) This prepares the way for chapters on the comic fragments of Andronicus, Naevius, the minor poets (Ennius, Trabea, Atilius, Licinius Imbrex, Juventius, Luscius, Aquilius), Caecilius, Terence, Turpilius. the books ends with a brief survey of the circumstances in which Roman Comedy developed and some remarks on the problems of the literary criticism of Plautus (...). there is a useful index and a full index locorum. (...). Do not be put off by the trendy title: this is an excellent book, clear, concise, graceful, and unpretentious. Wright never seems hurried, and he judges nicely the amounts of enumeration and exemplification appropriate to a question.' (A.S. GRATWICK in The Classical Review (New Series), 1978, pp.73-74). From the library of the late Prof. W. Geoffrey Arnott.
€ 85.00
(Antiquarian)