Alexis: The Fragments

This 1996 text was the first detailed commentary to be compiled on the fragments of the Greek comic poet Alexis. Alexis seems to have had an important effect on the development of Greek New Comedy, both in the presentation and choice of characters and in the structuring of the type of New Comedy plot associated in particular with Menander. Professor Arnott's commentary is multi-faceted, discussing textual transmission; the interpretation of Alexis's language, meaning and style; the dramatic background and its relevance to the comedy; and the relation of the material to the social and political history of the time. The commentary constitutes a significant contribution to the study of the development of comedy in the fourth century BC, and to our knowledge and precise interpretation of fourth-century Attic Greek. Since the fragments are readily available in the Kassel-Austin edition, the Greek text is not included.

'… [a] contribution of formidable erudition and a model for any subsequent editor.' William M. Calser, III, Religious Studies Review, 'The fruit of more than forty years' labor in the vineyards of Greek comedy, Arnott's commentary is a monument of scholarship which belongs in every research library. This massive erudition is amply leavened by a deep appreciation for Alexis' poetry and dramaturgy and illumined by comparisons to later authors as diverse as Alexander Pope and Salman Rushdie. In short, this one of the enduring achievements of twentieth-century scholarship.' Niall W. Slater, Classical World, 'We, and generations of scholars yet to come, all stand in Geoffrey Arnott's debt.' Sander M. Goldberg, Bryn Mawr Classical Review