{"product_id":"9781350379060","title":"Plautus: Poenulus","description":"\u003ch3\u003eBloomsbury Ancient Comedy Companions\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch1\u003ePlautus: Poenulus\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThomas Biggs | C. W. Marshall | Niall W. Slater\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eLiterary Criticism \/ Ancient \u0026amp; Classical\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlautus' Poenulus (\u003ci\u003eThe Little Carthaginian\u003c\/i\u003e) is a work of staggering literary and\u003cbr\u003ehistorical significance. Performed in the long shadow of Rome's struggle with\u003cbr\u003eHannibal's Carthage, this play stages the restoration of a Carthaginian family\u003cbr\u003edivided through enslavement. Set against the backdrop of a Greece marked by\u003cbr\u003ecomedic expectations and the geography of contemporary imperial conquest,\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoenulus \u003c\/i\u003epresents a tale of Carthaginian heartbreak and heartache to a postwar\u003cbr\u003eRoman audience. The comedy's remarkable diversity prompts audience\u003cbr\u003einteraction with a wide range of socio-cultural topics relevant to Plautus' time.\u003cbr\u003eEngaging weighty matters through song, slapstick, puns, and spectacle, \u003ci\u003ePoenulus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003emay appear to defang, but its bite is deep.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis book offers an innovative understanding of \u003ci\u003ePoenulus\u003c\/i\u003e' place in Roman history\u003cbr\u003eand literary culture, helping readers to appreciate the play itself, the complex\u003cbr\u003enature of Plautine authorship, and the cultures of performance in Republican\u003cbr\u003eRome. Most of the book explores the play as a performance, from its unique and\u003cbr\u003estrikingly self-aware prologue to the actors' call for applause in the final line.\u003cbr\u003eThe longest chapter examines the play's afterlives in the Renaissance and early\u003cbr\u003emodern period, including little-known revivals and adaptations in Ferrara, Rome,\u003cbr\u003eand Cambridge. Over the centuries, people have found in \u003ci\u003ePoenulus\u003c\/i\u003e a script well\u003cbr\u003esuited to active learning in the Latin classroom, a text capable of supporting\u003cbr\u003enew political ideologies, and a dramatized vision of the world that accorded\u003cbr\u003ewith processes of racialization in Europe as reengagement with the classical past\u003cbr\u003ecoincided with the expansion of the slave trade and the objectification of Black\u003cbr\u003eAfricans. That one play has been seen to support and subvert the same outlooks\u003cbr\u003eand practices is a testament to its complexity and to the enduring power of all Plautine verse from the third century BCE to the present.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThomas Biggs\u003c\/b\u003e is Lecturer in Latin at the University of St Andrews, UK. He is the author of \u003ci\u003ePoetics of the First Punic War\u003c\/i\u003e (2020) and co-editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Epic Journey in Greek and Roman Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (2019).\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e09 July 2026\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781350379060\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e208\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e13.44\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51196876587148,"sku":"9781350379060","price":90.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_f8d65247-1b4e-48fa-95c1-b3289870345b.jpg?v=1782962170","url":"https:\/\/lateknightbooks.com\/products\/9781350379060","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}