Greek Parody

1 Course Unit

The parasitic humorists referred to as “parodists” have existed as long as there have been hosts to supply them their blood. Authors of all genres, from Homer to Aristotle to Herodotus to Euripides, have fallen prey to them. The successful parodist masters their target’s style and, via reasoned application of distortions and manipulations, turns it to their own purpose. A literary parody is therefore a species of embodied criticism, the study of which (pleasurable and rewarding in itself) inevitably also enriches one’s understanding of the target text, the mechanisms of generic transformation and the rhetorical power of the comic. 1 Course Unit