Eight Great Comedies

by Various

The The Clouds - Aristophanes; Mandragola - Machiavelli; Twelfth Night - Shakespeare; The Miser - Moliere; The Beggar’s Opera - J. Gay; The Importance of Being Earnest - O. Wilde; Uncle Vanya - A. Chekhov; Arms and the Man - G. B. Shaw. The On the Comic Spirit - G. K. Chesterton; Comedy - B. Dobree; The Comic Rhythm - S. K. Langer; The Structure of Comedy - N. Frye. Edited by Sylvan Barnet, Morton Berman, William Burto. A Mentor book, MD216; first published by The New American Library in 1958.

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Classics, Literature, Drama

Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Viktoriya]

I bought this collection only because it has "The Importance of Being Ernest" by Oscar Wilde in it. At the time, that's all I wanted to read and didn't care about any other plays in this collection. This play is AWESOME!!! I also read Machiavelli's "Mandragola" and Moliere's "The Miser" and enjoyed both of them. Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" left much to be desired. I found the whole plot stupid and the play simply didn't make sense (why did Viola hide her identity and presented herself as a man?) I have no desire to read Anton Chekhov in English (will read him only in Russian) and the other remaining plays don't interest me.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several of these playwrights I'd heard of, but not so much for comedy. I'd read all of Shakespeare's plays and enjoyed rereading Twelfth Night. The only one I had not heard of was John Gay, author of the Beggar's Opera; not sure I understood the humor. I was surprised by Machiavelli, Chekhov, and Moliere as I associate them with more dramatic writing. Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest was hilarious and the rest were funny. Shaw's Arms and the Man was ridiculous in its reality. The essays were informative and enlightening.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken as a group, this is a pretty solid collection. I wouldn't categorize all of them as 'comedies', however. Only four seemed like true 'comedies' to me. The other four were more like 'slice of life plays that contained some humor'. I'll let you decide which is which.

[Ex Libris IMPS · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say, I love a comedy. Arms and The Man was delightful, Twelfth Night and The Importance of Being Earnest were wonderful to reread, Uncle Vanya confused me greatly, and the rest were very fun. The perfect book?

[Silvio]

I quickly realized that I'm not interested in this at this point in the unfolding

[Judith]

I'm actually reading the 1958 edition (from last summer's library book sale classics grab bag), but this one had a cover image :-). I was immersed in Chekhov (which you are now nodding at in agreement if you remember my previous infatuation with Gogol). Honestly I need a bright shiny new edition with plenty of introductory, explanatory, timelines, maps, etc to seduce me into re-reading Machiavelli, Shakespeare and Moliere when I am wide awake enough to have a cognizant read.

[Andrew Neuendorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great ones: Aristophanes' The Clouds, Twelfth Night, Importance of Being Earnest....it's just that the print is too small, sometimes blurry, and the plays contain no line numbers. I took a risk with this one for my Humor in Literature class and kind of screwed my students over on the poor quality of the production. It was real damn cheap though.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The selection of 8 ranged from Aristophanes to Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest is really quite funny, a story of mistaken (and fake) identity.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Importance of Being Earnest - 4.5/5
The Miser - 3/5
Uncle Vanya - 2/5
Arms and the Man - 2.5/5