Amusing - must brush up on my Greek tragedy.

Good. Not as good as Euripides, but good.

THE FROGS ARE

Even if you're not interested in ancient plays and theatrical comedy (my interest is moderate, at best) reading Aristophanes give some interesting insights about Greek society around the 5th century BCE.

Otherwise the humor is hit and miss for me as a modern reader. Some of it, mostly vulgar and situational humor, is still funny while most jokes depending on historical context is lost on me. I even found myself laughing at the episode where Euripides is playing the role of Echo and infuriates the Archer by repeating his lines.

Besides the plays themselves being fun, I really enjoyed the introduction and the footnotes. They inspired me to go online and pick up some Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripedes! I realize that those are tragedians, but if you've read Frogs and all its literary criticism of the tragedies, you'll know why my interest in them was piqued.

This was my first time reading Aristophanes, so I'm yet to read those of the surviving plays not included in this edition. As such, at the moment I can't really comment on whether this particular edition is better than another by choice of texts. However, I think its worth mentioning that after this, I'm definitely going to be reading the rest of Aristophanes' work, entertaining as they were.

First things first, please drop the common misconception that classic texts- and especially antiquity- were all very serious, very sensible, very snobby. No, it's just not true. The human race has always loved- to our merit or fault- penis jokes, flatulence jokes, colourful invective. Aristophanes is no exception. In Wasps, Women at the Thesmophoria, and Frogs, we get all things silly and crude. If you think you're too grown-up for that sort of childish humour, I think you should grow-up out of your insecurities. Enjoy it! Penis jokes are funny, I promise...

If not, well, okay then. But, there is something I took away from this on the nature of comedy. Typical of Ancient Greek Drama and Comedy, mythology is incorporated within the stories (through references in Wasps and Women, and with a more direct involvement in Frogs). The effect of this on me was to create a sense of magic and escapism- perfect for comedy. The best modern example I could think of was Mighty Boosh: magic and reality are blended seamlessly together, scepticism is suspended, and the combination never feels jarring.

There may be, perhaps, some ethical differences, but I think it's important not to condemn the past with our modern morality so much. The gay jokes, for example. Women at the Thesmophoria is built on them. However, at least for me, they never felt hateful, more a playful nudge nudge wink wink he lets "himself be buggered" kind of thing. Actual quote, by the way. I also found myself quite fond of the character Agathon, the effeminate "passive" homosexual with a "slack passage... through submissive acts" who "snatch[es] away female sexual rights by poaching their nocturnal business," and, here's that quote again, "letting himself be buggered." Yeah, it's pretty shocking.

Most of all, Aristophanes' work is just an interesting little document on the culture and politics of Athens. The notes included in this edition were quite good in this regard. I love learning about ancient literature and mythology, and reading this was time well spent.

Good stuff. Still entertaining and pertinent today. Laughed out loud many times.

no I miss the frogs

Some thoughts:
A) Great introduction - really helped for someone new to Aristophanic comedy.
B) Re: Wasps. Wow this is really explicit for something I'm teaching to 17 year olds.
C) Favourite line: "There you are, you dirty old muff-chaser!"

a fairly entertaining collection of three comedies, though certainly not funny by modern standards, and have all the rank misogyny you might expect from an ancient greek writer (the second, women, is particularly terrible in this respect, i ended up skipping it midway through the 1st act), and as far as the translation goes, heavy use of british english isms such as "sod off" make me wonder just how much of aristophanes i'm really reading. in general, the value of these plays are best characterized by being interesting portraits of the contemporary values, dramatic tools and politics of 4th C. BCE classical greece.

Really good. Frogs sing in it and there's a rap battle between Aeschylus and Euripides. I like the reading of Dionysus' departure symbolizing an increased responsibility--like he's been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries himself.

Professor had an interesting take on it--Dionysus' descent into the Underworld maps neatly onto an actual path in Athens that would have led to the theatre where the play was shown. So the play is working on a metafictional level as well: Dionysus and the audience both being initiated into the mysteries by the conclusion.

I had to double-check every 25 pages to confirm whether the works of Aristophanes are actually from 2400 years ago. It was so good, and exceptionally relatable to current affairs. How did this man think of such satire so far back?

After finishing this hilarious and simplified translated works, I infer only one thing: The world hasn't changed one bit.

Also, when the Frogs said, "Brékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax!", I felt it. It was emotionally moving.