Aristophanes and the Carnival of Genres ARETHUSA BOOKS Series Editor: Martha A. Malamud A R I S TO P H A N E S and the Carnival of Genres Charles Platter THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS Baltimore © 2007 The Johns Hopkins University Press All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Johns Hopkins University Press 2715 North Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363 www.press.jhu.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Platter, Charles, 1957– Aristophanes and the carnival of genres / Charles Platter p. cm — (Arethusa books) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-8527-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8018-8527-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Aristophanes—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Bakhtin, M. M. (Mikhail Mikhaˇilovich), 1895–1975—Aesthetics. I. Title PA3879.P55 2007 822(cid:118).01—dc22 2006019753 A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. To Alice êneu ∏w kãrua di°rripton ên This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Bakhtin, Aristophanes, and the Carnival of Genres 1 1 Dikaiopolis on Modern Art 42 2 The Failed Programs ofClouds 63 3 Clouds on Clouds and the Aspirations of Wasps 84 4 Questioning Authority: Homer and Oracular Speech 108 5 The Return of Telephus: Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae, and theDialogic Background 143 Conclusion: The Centrifugal Style 176 Notes 183 Bibliography 239 Index 251 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments A lot of things have to go right for a book to appear. This one is no exception, and many thanks are due. Grants from the Univer- sity of Georgia Research Foundation allowed me to begin writing. The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Georgia generously offered me research leave in 1999 –2000 that was spent at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where most of this book was writ- ten. I owe thanks to members of the Classical Philology faculty there, particularly to Romuald Turasiewicz, Jerzy Styka, and Józef Korpanty, who opened their library facilities to me and whose hospitality and col- legiality I greatly valued. They also gave me the opportunity to deliver a monographic lecture series on Aristophanes and Bakhtin, which helped to clarify my thinking on a number of issues. Special thanks are also in order to the staff of the Classical Philology Library at Jagiellonian, which was extremely helpful and unfailingly deciphered with good hu- mor the halting Polish of my requests. I fi rst read Aristophanes with the late Seth Benardete at the Brook- lyn College Latin/Greek Institute in 1982. This book bears the marks of his thought in medulla nisi in verbis. Many others have provided ad- ditional criticism, encouragement, and inspiration. I despair trying to name all who deserve grateful mention. Peter Smith, Nancy Felson, Allen Miller, Kenneth Reckford, Niall Slater, Jeffrey Henderson, and Miguel Tamen read (or listened indulgently) and commented upon parts of the manuscript or its predecessors. Along the way, various institutions allowed me to present work in progress. I would like to thank audi- ences at the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, the University of South Carolina, the Polska Akademia Umieje˛tnos´ci, as well as my students at the University of Georgia over the years for their comments. The kernel from which this book developed fi rst appeared in the pages of the special Bakhtin issue of Arethusa back in 1993, edited by Allen Miller and myself, and I am pleased by the (very un-Bakhtinian) symmetry that fi nds the fi nished version appearing in Arethusa Books. I would like to thank Martha Malamud, general editor of the series, for her support and encouragement throughout the editing process. Mi- ix