Scan barcode
amlibera's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating, dense, academic work that engages with a number of topics connected to humor, laughter, and comedy - specifically in the ancient world. At some points, Beard is provocative, at others equally dismissive of those who have provoked similar theories but it's all part of a wide ranging work that engages a large number of the questions that face scholars of humor.
lethalballet's review against another edition
slow-paced
4.0
Help! I accidentally read an academic text FAR outside my field
hilaritas's review against another edition
4.0
This is a largely academic but entertaining account of laughter in Rome. It's very engaged with the secondary literature, often in a disputatious manner. Beard is also clearly in possession of a magisterial knowledge of primary source materials, and she hops around in time to marshal evidence to her points. She includes a decent survey and treatment on theories of laughter, but she remains agnostic about universalist accounts.
The reason this book is extremely my s#!t is that Beard traces in a critical and probing manner all of the ways that laughter serves to reinforce or break down relationships of power. She uses jokes and jests to explore the relationships between emperor and aristocrats, emperor and peasant, patron and parasite, men and women, philosophers and common man, orator and actor, etc. All of these are fascinating and multifaceted, as you would expect from an account framed through laughter (which is certainly not reducible to humor). I was especially taken by the excellent account of the anxieties of the orator, who walks the razor's edge between sparkling wit and low jester. The uncomfortable interplay of the political stage, where rhetoric leads to political glory, and the dramatic stage, where mime and bawdy humor signify the lowest ranks of society, is pretty fascinating.
Further, you get to hear a lot of great Roman jokes in the process! Some are head-scratchers, but there were several that elicited a chuckle or at least a murmur of appreciation. In addition, various interesting topics get included as asides. Who knew that Latin didn't really have a word for a "smile" distinct from a laugh, or that Latin has a solid half-dozen or more distinct terms for a joke or witticism, while Greek makes do with just a couple? The discussion of how Roman laughter differed from Greek was worth the price of admission alone.
This is a pretty quick read as it's broken up roughly along the lines of lectures Beard gave in Berkeley. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in ancient Roman social and political structures, the ways that laughter, irony, and humor interact with those power and social structures, and people who like peering back in history to see how ancient peoples were different (and often surprisingly the same). Also for anyone who needs some cheesy jokes to recount to their patron in order to earn a free meal!
The reason this book is extremely my s#!t is that Beard traces in a critical and probing manner all of the ways that laughter serves to reinforce or break down relationships of power. She uses jokes and jests to explore the relationships between emperor and aristocrats, emperor and peasant, patron and parasite, men and women, philosophers and common man, orator and actor, etc. All of these are fascinating and multifaceted, as you would expect from an account framed through laughter (which is certainly not reducible to humor). I was especially taken by the excellent account of the anxieties of the orator, who walks the razor's edge between sparkling wit and low jester. The uncomfortable interplay of the political stage, where rhetoric leads to political glory, and the dramatic stage, where mime and bawdy humor signify the lowest ranks of society, is pretty fascinating.
Further, you get to hear a lot of great Roman jokes in the process! Some are head-scratchers, but there were several that elicited a chuckle or at least a murmur of appreciation. In addition, various interesting topics get included as asides. Who knew that Latin didn't really have a word for a "smile" distinct from a laugh, or that Latin has a solid half-dozen or more distinct terms for a joke or witticism, while Greek makes do with just a couple? The discussion of how Roman laughter differed from Greek was worth the price of admission alone.
This is a pretty quick read as it's broken up roughly along the lines of lectures Beard gave in Berkeley. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in ancient Roman social and political structures, the ways that laughter, irony, and humor interact with those power and social structures, and people who like peering back in history to see how ancient peoples were different (and often surprisingly the same). Also for anyone who needs some cheesy jokes to recount to their patron in order to earn a free meal!
aliibera's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating, dense, academic work that engages with a number of topics connected to humor, laughter, and comedy - specifically in the ancient world. At some points, Beard is provocative, at others equally dismissive of those who have provoked similar theories but it's all part of a wide ranging work that engages a large number of the questions that face scholars of humor.
More...