Dark Voyage and the Golden Mean

Professor Cook develops his philosophical exploration of comedy from the ideas of the probable and the wonderful. These two profoundly different approaches to human experience imply the related poles of rationalism-idealism, society-individual, concept-symbol, and reason-imagination. In discussing the implications of these symbolic attitudes, Professor Cook casts new light on the nature of both tragedy and comedy, their subjects, goals, and techniques.

Albert Cook is Professor of Comparative Literature, English, and Classics at Brown University, where he has taught since 1978. Author, poet, and playwright, he is the author of the critical studies The Classic Line: A Study of Epic Poetry, Myth and Language, and Soundings: On Shakespeare, Modern Poetry, Plato, and Other Subjects; the poetry collections Adapt the Living, Modulars, and Delayed Answers; and the plays The Death of Trotsky and Recall. His articles and poetry have appeared in scores of periodicals.