Background
Segal, Erich was born on June 16, 1937 in Brooklyn. Son of Samuel Michael and Cynthia (Shapiro) Segal.
( In a grand tour of comic theater over the centuries, E...)
In a grand tour of comic theater over the centuries, Erich Segal traces the evolution of the classical form from its early origins in a misogynistic quip by the sixth-century B.C. Susarion, through countless weddings and happy endings, to the exasperated monosyllables of Samuel Beckett. With fitting wit, profound erudition lightly worn, and instructive examples from the mildly amusing to the uproarious, his book fully illustrates comedy's glorious life cycle from its first breath to its death in the Theater of the Absurd. An exploration of various landmarks in the history of a genre that flourished almost unchanged for two millennia, The Death of Comedy revisits the obscenities and raucous twists of Aristophanes, the neighborly pleasantries of Menander, the tomfoolery and farce of Plautus. Segal shows how the ribaldry of foiled adultery, a staple of Roman comedy, reappears in force on the stages of Restoration England. And he gives us a closer look at the schadenfreude--delight in someone else's misfortune--that marks Machiavelli's and Marlowe's works. At every turn in Segal's analysis--from Shakespeare to Molière to Shaw--another facet of the comic art emerges, until finally, he argues, "the head conquers and the heart dies": Letting the intellect take the lead, Cocteau, Ionesco, and Beckett smother comedy as we know it. The book is a tour de force, a sweeping panorama of the art and history of comedy, as insightful as it is delightful to read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674006437/?tag=2022091-20
Segal, Erich was born on June 16, 1937 in Brooklyn. Son of Samuel Michael and Cynthia (Shapiro) Segal.
Bachelor of Arts, Harvard University, 1958; A.M., Harvard University, 1959; Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1965.
Teaching fellow humanities Harvard University, 1959-1963. Visiting lecturer Yale University, 1964-1965, assistant professor, 1965-1968, associate professor classics and comparative literature, 1968-1973. Visiting professor classical philology University Munich, Germany, 1973.
Visiting professor classics Princeton University, 1974-1975, Tel Aviv University, spring 1976. Visiting professor comparative literature Dartmouth College, fall 1976-1980. Visiting fellow Wolfson College, Oxford University, 1978, 79, 80.
Adjunct professor classics Yale University, 1981-1988. Honorary research fellow University College, London, 1983—2010. Supernumerary fellow Wolfson College, Oxford University, 1986—2010.
Honorary fellow Wolfson College, London, 1999—2010. Member executive committee National Advisory Council, Peace Corps, 1970. Jury member Cannes Film Festival, 1971, National Book Award (Arts and Letters), 1971.
Lecturer American Comparative Literature Association, 1971, American Philosophical Association, 1971, 72, German Classical Association, 1974, Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, 1974, Ist. Nazionale del Dramma Antico, Sicily, 1975, British Classical Association, 1977. William Kelley Prentice Memorial lecturer Princeton University, 1981, Inaugural Andrea Rosenthal Memorial lecturer Brown University, 1992.
( In a grand tour of comic theater over the centuries, E...)
(Euripides: a Collection of Critical Essays, Erich Segal (...)
(They met as children, innocents from two different worlds...)
(Reader's Digest Condensed Books)
Member American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Academy Literature Studies, American Philological Association, American Comparative Literature Association, Writers Guild of America-West, Authors League, Society Roman Studies (United Kingdom), Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association, Harvard Club (New York City), Yale Club (New York City), Athenaeum (London). M C.
Married Karen James, June 10, 1975. 2 daughter, 1 son (deceased).