Scrinium Classical Antiquity

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  • Handlungsgliederung in Nea und Palliata: Dis exapaton und Bacchides. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien, 1984. 109p. Sewn. Two reviews loosely inserted. Series: Österreische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 441. Band.'As his title implies, Primmer is especially concerned with the structure of the Roman comedies and their Greek originals. He here publishes an acute and valuable analysis of Plautus' 'Bacchydes' as a test-case of his methods (...). He rightly stresses the importance of trying to discover in the Latin play the act-structure of its Greek model. The chief criterion is the time required for offstage action, the 'Webster-criterion'. (...) the other main strand of Pr.'s thesi is that Plautus divided his plays into varying numbers of actus, spearated in performance by music of the 'tibicen'. Here he fails to convince. He believes that each 'actus' contains a distinct plot-phase (yet without regard to lapse of dramatic time), coinciding with a more or less regular large-scale metrical pattern. Dividing a plot into phases, however, is rather arbitary, and although one may accept that 'sen.-cant.-sept.' is a common pattern, there are too many exceptions to attribute to this fact the significance which Pr. does.' (J.B. LOWE in The Classical Review (New Series), 1985, 396-97). From the library of the late Prof. W. Geoffrey Arnott. € 27.50 (Antiquarian)

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