French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Hurst, On the Margins of Menander
Theatre and Performance
André Hurst, Dans les marges de Ménandre, Geneva: Droz, 'Recherches et Rencontres' series, 2015.
EAN13: 9782600018883
176 pages
34.71 EUR (paperback) / 27.77 EUR (pdf)
Publisher's Description
Menander is an Athenian comic poet (4th-3rd century BCE) who was one of the greatest celebrities of the theatre in Antiquity. Julius Caesar preferred him to Terence, Plutarch to Aristophanes, Marcus Aurelius read him, and orators drew inspiration from his style. Subsequently, and for a very long time, he fell into oblivion, although he was occasionally admired for a few quotations that bore witness to his artistry. Since the 19th century, discoveries of papyri have brought him out of the shadows, and it has been said that he is at the origin of European comic theatre. Behind the subtlety of his dramatic techniques, one also detects an aspiration to change society through the means offered by the comic stage.
The essays collected in this volume are the fruit of several years of reflection dedicated to a major figure in the history of theatre. The author, a professor at the University of Geneva, has also published adaptations of Menander's comedies for the general public.
Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword
Abbreviations. Concordance of the main comedy titles
Chapitre premier. What does Menander teach us?
Chapitre 2. Menander in everyday language
Chapitre 3. Menander misunderstood?
Chapitre 4. Menander and tragedy
Chapitre 5. Menander and the legalistic villain
Chapitre 6. Menander in his recesses
Chapitre 7. How to show the doctor the door?
Chapitre 8. A new Menander
Chapitre 9. Notes on the text of The Samia
Bibliographie
Index of Authors and Works
Selective Index of Names
Index of Toponyms
Subject Index
This collection of essays contributes to classical scholarship and theatre history by examining the legacy of the Athenian comic poet Menander, a central figure of New Comedy who profoundly influenced European dramatic tradition. André Hurst draws upon years of academic research to illuminate the subtleties of Menander's theatrical techniques and his broader social aspirations. By analyzing how the playwright engaged with legal themes, tragic conventions, and everyday language, the volume offers fresh perspectives on an author whose work was largely lost for centuries before modern papyri discoveries restored him to the literary canon.
The book will prove especially valuable to students and scholars of classical literature, theatre studies, and ancient Greek culture who wish to deepen their understanding of Hellenistic comedy and its reception. Through a series of focused investigations into textual nuances and thematic structures, the author addresses enduring questions about dramatic interpretation and the transmission of classical texts. Readers interested in the evolution of European comic theatre and the methods of textual criticism will find this scholarly study an insightful companion to the surviving fragments of Menander's oeuvre.