The Dramatic Values in Plautus

Blancké, Wilton W. (Wilton Wallace), 1884-1949Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 154K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Dramatic Values in Plautus by Wilton W. BlanckéAuthor: Blancké, Wilton W. (Wilton Wallace), 1884-1949,Language: English, Class: PA: Language and Literatures: Classical Languages and Literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2006

Editor's review

This book is a monograph on the dramatic technique and stagecraft of the Roman comic playwright Plautus. Drawing on close reading of the texts, the author, Wilton W. Blancké, examines how dramatic tension, characterization, and stage business in Plautus's plays serve theatrical effect. For readers familiar with classical literature, it offers a new perspective on Plautus from the standpoint of performance and theatricality, rather than remaining at the level of philology or textual criticism. The discussion touches on comic rhythm, dialogue design, and audience reception, making it suitable as supplementary reading for courses on classical drama or for research in Roman literature. Because the book was written relatively early, some of its scholarly views are now distant from contemporary research orientations, and readers should consult it alongside more recent work. The electronic edition, released by Project Gutenberg, is easy to search and excerpt, making it useful for researchers who need to quote the original text frequently. Overall, this is a specialized research work whose value lies in its sustained attention to theatrical detail rather than in popular exposition for a general audience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in classical literature and Roman drama
Scholars working on Plautus or on staging techniques in Latin comedy
Teachers who need English-language scholarship to support courses on classical drama
Serious readers interested in the origins of the Western comic tradition

Not a good fit for

General readers who want to read Plautus's plays themselves rather than scholarly studies
Readers without a background in classical literature who are looking for an accessible introduction
Researchers seeking the latest contemporary scholarship and theoretical frameworks

Reading tips

Begin with a Chinese or English translation of a representative Plautus play before turning to the textual analysis in this book.
Take notes while reading alongside specific passages of the plays, marking the author's judgments about stage effect.
Consult more recent scholarship on Latin comedy to distinguish this book's views from contemporary findings.
Read chapter by chapter, reviewing each chapter's core argument about theatrical technique afterward.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a translation of Plautus's plays?

No. This is a scholarly study that discusses the dramatic value and staging techniques in Plautus's plays, not a translation. Readers who want the plays themselves should look for a separate translation of Plautus; this book is better used as analytical supplementary material alongside them.

Can I read it without knowing Latin?

Yes. This is an English-language scholarly work focused on dramatic effect and textual analysis, and it does not require knowledge of Latin. A basic background in classical literature and drama will, however, make the author's line of analysis and terminology easier to follow.

How is the electronic edition best used?

The Project Gutenberg edition is a free e-book that is convenient for full-text searching, excerpting, and note-taking. It suits researchers looking up discussion of particular plays or techniques by keyword, and it is also convenient for students to print and read chapter by chapter, though the edition is early and page numbers and sources should be checked when citing.

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About the author

Blancké, Wilton W. (Wilton Wallace), 1884-1949 Author · American · 1884–1949

Wilton W. Blancké (1884–1949) was an American writer and educator. Public information about his life is limited; what can currently be confirmed centers mainly on his nationality, dates of birth and death, and one surviving work. He is the author of The Dramatic Values in Plautus, a study devoted to the plays of the Roman comic playwright Plautus that examines their dramatic qualities and stage effectiveness. This work suggests that Blancké's writing belongs to literary scholarship and classical drama criticism, focusing on textual analysis and theatrical effect rather than popular writing for a general readership. Only one of his works is currently held in the library, so it is difficult to present a full picture of his output and intellectual development. Existing sources also mention that he wrote on literary, social, and educational subjects, but the relevant titles and specific contents remain to be verified. On the whole, he was an American author whose work was primarily academic in nature, and his study offers a useful perspective for understanding the dramatic character of Plautine comedy.