Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After

What makes us laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time? How do these two primal, seemingly discrete and non-verbal modes of expression intersect in everyday life and ritual, and what range of emotions do they evoke? How may they be voiced, shaped and coloured in literature and liturgy, art and music?

Bringing together scholars from diverse periods and disciplines of Hellenic and Byzantine studies, this volume explores the shifting shapes and functions of laughter and tears. With a focus on the tragic, the comic and the tragicomic dimensions of laughter and tears in art, literature and performance, as well as on their emotional, socio-cultural and religious significance, it breaks new ground in the study of ancient and Byzantine affectivity.

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
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Contents
pp v-vii
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List of Illustrations
pp viii-x
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Preface
pp xi-xiv
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Notes on Contributors
pp xv-xviii
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1 - Introduction
pp 1-24
- By Margaret Alexiou, George Seferis Professor (Emerita) of Modern Greek Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University., Douglas Cairns, Professor of Classics at the University of Edinburgh.
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PART I - ANCIENT KEYNOTES: FROM HOMER TO LUCIAN
pp 25-26
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2 - Laughter and Tears in Early Greek Literature
pp 27-35
- By Richard Seaford, Professor of Ancient Greek Emeritus at the University of Exeter.
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3 - Imagining Divine Laughter in Homer and Lucian
pp 36-53
- By Stephen Halliwell, Professor of Greek and Wardlaw Professor of Classics at the University of St Andrews.
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4 - Parody, Symbol and the Literary Past in Lucian
pp 54-72
- By Calum Maciver, Lecturer in Classics at the University of Edinburgh.
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PART II - ANCIENT MODELS, BYZANTINE COLLECTIONS: EPIGRAMS, RIDDLES AND JOKES
pp 73-74
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5 - ‘Tantalus Ever in Tears’: The Greek Anthology as a Source of Emotions in Late Antiquity
pp 75-86
- By Judith Herrin, Professor Emerita of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow at King's College London.
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6 - ‘Do You Think You're Clever? Solve This Riddle, Then!’ The Comic Side of Byzantine Enigmatic Poetry
pp 87-103
- By Simone Beta, Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Siena.
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7 - Philogelos: An Anti-Intellectual Joke-Book
pp 104-122
- By Stephanie West, Emeritus Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford.
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PART III - BYZANTINE PERSPECTIVES: TEARS AND LAUGHTER, THEORY AND PRAXIS
pp 123-124
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8 - ‘Messages of the Soul’: Tears, Smiles, Laughter and Emotions Expressed by them in Byzantine Literature
pp 125-145
- By Martin Hinterberger, Professor of Byzantine Literature at the University of Cyprus.
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9 - Towards a Byzantine Theory of the Comic?
pp 146-165
- By Aglae Pizzone, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Medieval Literature, University of Southern Denmark, Odense.
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10 - Staging Laughter and Tears: Libanius, Chrysostom and the Riot of the Statues
pp 166-186
- By Jan R. Stenger, Douglas MacDowell Professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow.
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11 - Lamenting for the Fall of Jerusalem in the Seventh Century CE
pp 187-198
- By Ioannis Papadogiannakis, Lecturer in Classics and Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London
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12 - Guiding Grief: Liturgical Poetry and Ritual Lamentation in Early Byzantium
pp 199-216
- By Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Willard Prescott and Annie McClelland Smith Professor of Religious Studies at Brown University.
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PART IV - LAUGHTER, POWER AND SUBVERSION
pp 217-218
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13 - Mime and the Dangers of Laughter in Late Antiquity
pp 219-231
- By Ruth Webb, Professor of Greek at the Université Lille 3.
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14 - Laughter on Display: Mimic Performances and the Danger of Laughing in Byzantium
pp 232-242
- By Przemysław Marciniak, Professor of Byzantine Literature at the University of Silesia.
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15 - The Power of Amusement and the Amusement of Power: The Princely Frescoes of St Sophia, Kiev, and their Connections to the Byzantine World
pp 243-262
- By Elena Boeck, Director of Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks and Professor of History of Art at DePaul University.
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16 - Laughing at Eros and Aphrodite: Sexual Inversion and its Resolution in the Classicising Arts of Medieval Byzantium
pp 263-288
- By Alicia Walker, Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art at Bryn Mawr College.
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PART V - GENDER, GENRE AND LANGUAGE: LOSS AND SURVIVAL
pp 289-290
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17 - Comforting Tears and Suggestive Smiles: To Laugh and Cry in the Komnenian Novel
pp 291-311
- By Ingela Nilsson, Professor of Greek and Byzantine Studies at Uppsala University.
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18 - Do Brothers Weep? Male Grief, Mourning, Lament and Tears in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Byzantium
pp 312-337
- By Margaret Mullett, Professor of Byzantine Studies at Queen's University
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19 - Laments by Nicetas Choniates and Others for the Fall of Constantinople in 1204
pp 338-352
- By Michael Angold, Professor Emeritus of Byzantine History at the University of Edinburgh.
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20 - ‘Words Filled With Tears’: Amorous Discourse as Lamentation in the Palaiologan Romances
pp 353-374
- By Panagiotis Agapitos, Professor of Byzantine Literature at the University of Cyprus.
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Antiquity and After

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