Looking at Laughter
eBook - PDF

Looking at Laughter

Humor, Power, and Transgression in Roman Visual Culture, 100 B.C.- A.D. 250

  1. 336 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Looking at Laughter

Humor, Power, and Transgression in Roman Visual Culture, 100 B.C.- A.D. 250

About this book

In this fresh, accessible, and beautifully illustrated book, his third to examine an aspect of Roman visual culture, John R. Clarke explores the question, "What made Romans laugh?" Looking at Laughter examines a heterogeneous corpus of visual material, from the crudely obscene to the exquisitely sophisticated and from the playful to the deadly serious—everything from street theater to erudite paintings parodying the emperor. Nine chapters, organized under the rubrics of Visual Humor, Social Humor, and Sexual Humor, analyze a wide range of visual art, including wall painting, sculpture, mosaics, and ceramics. Archaeological sites, as well as a range of ancient texts, inscriptions, and graffiti, provide the background for understanding the how and why of humorous imagery. This entertaining study offers fascinating insights into the mentality of Roman patrons and viewers who enjoyed laughing at the gods, the powers-that-be, and themselves.

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Yes, you can access Looking at Laughter by John R. Clarke in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & History of Ancient Art. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
2007
Print ISBN
9780520237339
eBook ISBN
9780520929838
Edition
1
Topic
Art
Subtopic
History of Ancient Art
Both 
the 
adultery 
mime 
and 
the 
nude 
mimes 
were 
impermanent. 
For 
the 
adul-
tery 
mime 
we 
have 
a 
few 
fragmentary 
lines 
and 
songs; 
for 
the 
nude 
mimes, 
only
the 
tavern 
paintings. 
Both 
forms 
were 
highly 
visual, 
and 
actors 
developed 
them 
by
combining 
stereotype 
with 
improvisation. 
The 
actors’ 
success 
in 
making 
the 
audi-
ence 
laugh 
depended 
on 
elements 
of 
surprise 
that 
ran 
the 
whole 
gamut 
of 
comic
ploys 
from 
wordplay 
to 
slapstick. 
In 
the 
following 
chapter 
we 
begin 
by 
looking 
at
another 
impermanent 
form 
of 
humorous 
visual 
culture, 
the 
comic 
theater. 
Fortu-
nately, 
we 
have 
a 
much 
greater 
range 
of 
textual 
and 
visual 
artifacts 
documenting
stage 
comedy; 
for 
this 
reason 
we 
can 
delve 
more 
deeply 
into 
how 
humor 
reveals
Roman 
cultural 
formation.
v
i
s
u
a
l
h
u
m
o
r
28
Figure 
2.
Pompeii, 
Inn 
on 
the 
Street 
of 
Mercury 
(VI, 
10, 
1),
woman 
resisting 
man.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Introduction
  5. Part One VISUAL HUMOR
  6. Part Two SOCIAL HUMOR
  7. Part Three SEXUAL HUMOR
  8. Conclusion
  9. Notes
  10. Bibliography
  11. List of Illustrations
  12. Index