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The Modern Scholar: Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy

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The Modern Scholar: Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy

By: Peter Meineck
Narrated by: Peter Meineck
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About this listen

The plays of one ancient city 2,500 years ago by just four playwrights have had a profound effect on the development of all subsequent Western drama, not only on the theatrical stage, but on opera, film, television, stand-up comedy, and dance - in fact, most, if not all, of the live arts owe a debt to the theatre of ancient Greece and the city of Athens. This course will examine the social, historical, and political context of ancient Greek drama and equip listeners with a set of critical analytical tools for developing their own appreciation of this vitally important genre. The course will focus on the four extant playwrights, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes, and examine each of their plays closely.

©2005 Peter Meineck (P)2005 Recorded Books
Drama
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What listeners say about The Modern Scholar: Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy

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excellent lectures

The lecturer spoke very clearly and engagingly. He really helped me to visualise Greek theatre productions. It would benefit those with some prior knowledge of Greek drama.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Its all Greek!

This is wonderful as an introduction to Greek drama and the lively lectures do not allow the mind to wander except perhaps to seach for that odd book of Greek plays.

Brilliantly delivered lectures makes the whole incomplete tangle of Greek playwrights, plays and their preoccupations come to life.

Decidedly, if you have even the smallest interest in the subject, this will illuminate the fascinating subject of Greek drama, an important foundation stone of modern plays

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6 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great overview

this could easily have been twice as long or more but otherwise interesting and insightful.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome

Although it's about 8 hours long, I've listened to this series of lectures many times. They are not only informative but told with such passion, insight and sensitivity that I got hooked from the start. I'm so happy I discovered the 'Modern Scholar' series, I'm sure I'll come back for more!

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7 people found this helpful

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Clarity and Insight

Wonderfully informative and yet informal. Deep insight into many aspects of Greek drama, put into historical context and explained with clarity, knowledge and affection. Loved every moment. Have tried to find DVDs of various plays mentioned but no luck so far.

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Good but not great

What did you like best about The Modern Scholar: Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy? What did you like least?

This was an interesting survey of greek drama. However, I didn't feel the author/narrator was quite as authoritative on the subject as I might have liked and - although I'm sure he'd deny this - I found him a little bit sexist.

For example, the way he described the way women were treated in Athens jarred for me a little: he said something along the lines of 'women were respected, and had access to various opportunities, but they were different opportunities from those available to men' thereby diminishing the fact that women were pretty much excluded from public life and confined to the home.

On several occasions he made comments about the way women were treated in Ancient Greece, and the inference on each occasion was that women had 'equal but different' rights in Athens. I wasn't expecting the audiobook to be a feminist diatribe but I didn't quite like the inference. On another occasion he said (without irony) that it was a terrible 'inequality' that a man never knows whether or not a woman is carrying his own child. An irritation, maybe; but inequality?!

Would you be willing to try another book from Peter Meineck? Why or why not?

Probably not, as I have found the lecture series on Greek Tragedy offered by The Great Courses and delivered by Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver to be more authoritative and broader in scope. However, I enjoyed the insights offered by Meineck about his involvement in stage productions of Greek Plays.

Could you see The Modern Scholar: Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

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