The Humanist Comedy

For about three thousand years comedy has applied a welcome humanist perspective to the world's religious beliefs and practices. From the ancient Greek comedies of Aristophanes, the famous poem by Lucretius, and dialogues of Cicero to early modern and Enlightenment essays and philosophical texts, together with the inherent skepticism about life after death in tragicomedies by Plautus, Shakespeare, Molière, and nineteenth-century novels by such as Dickens and Hugo, the literary critic and historian Alexander Welsh analyzes the prevalence of openness of mind and relieving good humor in Western thought. The Humanist Comedy concludes with close examination of a postmodern novel by the Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.

Author: Alexander Welsh
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 05/27/2014
Pages: 280
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 9.46h x 6.13w x 0.68d
ISBN13: 9780300197518
ISBN10: 0300197519
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | Humor
- Religion | Faith
- Literary Criticism | European | General

About the Author
Alexander Welsh is Emily Sanford Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Yale University. His many publications include The City of Dickens, Reflections on the Hero as Quixote, and Hamlet in His Modern Guises. He lives in Bethany, CT.

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