doi:10.

1017/S0075426915000282

Journal of Hellenic Studies 135 (2015) page 1 of 2

The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2015

REVIEWS OF BOOKS
LITERATURE
OLSON (S.D.) Ed. Ancient Comedy and
Reception: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey
Henderson. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter,
2014. Pp. xi + 1,086. 299.95. 9781614511250.
doi:10.1017/S0075426915000282

It is undoubtedly most appropriate that a scholar of

Jeffrey Hendersons calibre is presented a
Festschrift of such gigantic size, scope and
diversity as the one reviewed here. Comprising no
less than 50 essays in five different languages
(English, French, Italian, Spanish and German) and
numbering nearly 1,100 densely-printed pages in
total, the sheer bulk of the volume, even before the
turning of a single page, certainly impresses upon
the reader the impact of the honorands work.
The production of this volume also amounts to
a major editorial feat, for which the editors
Olson along with W. Haase, who initially
conceived of the project and, as Olson duly notes
in the foreword, is mostly responsible for its
design deserve much kudos. The 24-page Index
of Names and Subjects at the end of the book
bespeaks the tremendous variety of topics covered
by the various chapters. Even more striking is the
volumes coherent structure, a rare achievement in
such compilations. Festschrifts are usually hotchpotches of uncoordinated contributions connected
loosely with the honorands research career. This
one begs to differ: it achieves unity, balance, even
comprehensiveness to a significant extent.
With only three exceptions (R. Rosen, J.
Robson and G. Mastromarco, who tackle comic
and obscenity, both focal points of
Hendersons research), the chapters in the volume
explore various forms of comic reception (to which
Hendersons editions and translations have also
done great service). The book is divided into three,
roughly even parts: (a) ancient comedy and receptions: 20 essays, 374 pages; (b) medieval,
Renaissance and early modern receptions (up to the
18th century): 12 essays, 319 pages; and (c) modern
receptions (19th21st centuries): 18 essays, 363
pages. The authors are an amalgam of younger and
established scholars, some of whom, uncommonly,
feature twice (N.W. Slater, S. Beta). For the

readers convenience, each essay is preceded by a

substantial abstract and followed by a catalogue of
works cited which, in such volumes, is always
preferable to a comprehensive bibliography in the
end. The volume also includes numerous illustrations, a number of which is in colour (we are
missing a comprehensive list of illustrations).
The essays circle around two major thematic
axes. The first, more limited one investigates
comedy as the subject of reception, covering
topics such as: comic poets rivalling each other (Z.
Biles); Aristophanes alluding to Herodotus (H.-G.
Nesselrath) or employing tropes of paraenetic
poetry (M. Alonge); Menander engaging in
dialogue with Euripides (A. Sommerstein);
Terence adapting Menander (M. Fontaine); and
Plautus conversing with his Greek and Roman
models (E. Lefvre, B. Dunsch). The second,
much more far-reaching axis treats comedy as the
object of reception in a multiplicity of other
theatrical or non-theatrical genres, ancient as well
as modern: from satire (S. Beta, K. Sidwell, I.
Ruffell) to philosophical dialogue (C. Platter), the
novel (N.W. Slater, S.D. Smith) and iconography
(O. Taplin, N. W. Slater, S. Nervegna); and from
medieval (L. Kendrick) to Renaissance (L. Radif,
H. Casanova-Robin, J. Nassichuk, A. Scafuro) and
early modern theatrical adaptations (F. Schironi,
R. Miola, M. Goth, P. Ford, G. Manuwald, B.
Garcia-Hernndez et al., R. Tordoff) to 19th- and
20th-century translations in various languages (B.
Greiner, M.L. Chirico, G. van Steen, B. van Zyl
Smit, M. Gondicas, J.M. Walton). Chapters also
explore the reception of Graeco-Roman comic
plays in Italian comedy (F. Schironi), Shakespeare
(A. Scafuro), Renaissance comedy (R. Miola) and
Molire (P. Ford), in the sentimental plays of the
18th century (M. Goth) and in German historical
comedy (G. Manuwald). They also chart the
various transformations of ancient comic works in
Spanish literature from the 16th to the 20th
century (B. Garcia-Hernndez et al.), in modern
theatre (D. Konstan, M. Kotzamani), as well as in
musicals (S. Beta, T.J. Moore), in the cinema
(M.M. Winkler) and on the radio (A. Wrigley).
On top of its thematic diversity, the volume
displays great geographical and chronological
scope, as well. In terms of time span, the book

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

ranges from fifth-century BC Athens to

Republican Rome, from medieval to early modern
times and from 19th-century Greece (G. van
Steen) to 20th-century Italy (M. Treu), Germany
(P. Mllendorf) and Britain (G. Ley), to modernday Israel (N. Yaari), African-American theatre
(K.J. Wetmore) and the 21st-century American
alternative stage (E. Scharffenberger). Similarly,
the books conceptual geography ranges from
Europe (Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Greece)
to South Africa, and from the USA to Israel.
Chapters on Asian and Latin American receptions,
where many important comic receptions have
been recorded, are not offered still the volume

comes as close as one gets to a comprehensive

companion on ancient comedy and its receptions
without actually being one.
It is impossible even summarily to present, let
alone to critique, the individual chapters in the
limited space of this review. Suffice it to say, it is
truly a shame that the prohibitive price of what is
otherwise an impressively inclusive, must-have
volume will inevitably confine it to (a few)
academic libraries alone.
ANTONIS K. PETRIDES
Open University of Cyprus
apetrides@ouc.ac.cy