This was amazing. Also that translation! Honestly that’s half of what made me laugh. I can’t imagine reading that in class without most people being red faced in their pursuit not to laugh.
Not being a scholar of any particular kind I will say that the passage, in it's whole, is very funny. But when observation of such painfully serious dissection by scholars from the Muppets is added, funny dies a horrible death. And to add a somewhat less classical adage, if you have to explain it, it ain't funny! (Note: Yes when I was in high school, biology classes were required to pith their frog being used for dissection. I managed to avoid that class for that very reason) Loved your rant, by the way!
“Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”
God, I wish I’d known about that EB White quote 25 years ago, when I was asked to do a short write up on Bergson’s “Laughter” for a roundup of significant 20th-century nonfiction. (As it was, my submission was rejected.)
Thank you for discussing this essential passage. I am drawn to the possibility that it is a made-up joke position! Here's my translation, forthcoming from Hackett Publishing in Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Women at The Thesmophoria, Frogs, trans. Diane Arnson Svarlien with Notes & General Intro by Ian C. Storey:
MYRRHINE:
No man, be he my boyfriend or my husband …
LYSISTRATA:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
Go on, say it!
MYRRHINE:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
CALONIKE:
Oh dear lord,
my knees are going weak, Lysistrata. 220
LYSISTRATA:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
MYRRHINE:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
LYSISTRATA:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
MYRRHINE:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
LYSISTRATA:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed. 225
MYRRHINE:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed.
LYSISTRATA:
But never shall I let him have his way.
MYRRHINE:
But never shall I let him have his way.
LYSISTRATA:
If he should force me, though, against my will …
MYRRHINE:
If he should force me, though, against my will … 230
LYSISTRATA:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
MYRRHINE:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
LYSISTRATA:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
MYRRHINE:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
This was amazing. Also that translation! Honestly that’s half of what made me laugh. I can’t imagine reading that in class without most people being red faced in their pursuit not to laugh.
Not being a scholar of any particular kind I will say that the passage, in it's whole, is very funny. But when observation of such painfully serious dissection by scholars from the Muppets is added, funny dies a horrible death. And to add a somewhat less classical adage, if you have to explain it, it ain't funny! (Note: Yes when I was in high school, biology classes were required to pith their frog being used for dissection. I managed to avoid that class for that very reason) Loved your rant, by the way!
“Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”
God, I wish I’d known about that EB White quote 25 years ago, when I was asked to do a short write up on Bergson’s “Laughter” for a roundup of significant 20th-century nonfiction. (As it was, my submission was rejected.)
Thank you for discussing this essential passage. I am drawn to the possibility that it is a made-up joke position! Here's my translation, forthcoming from Hackett Publishing in Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Women at The Thesmophoria, Frogs, trans. Diane Arnson Svarlien with Notes & General Intro by Ian C. Storey:
MYRRHINE:
No man, be he my boyfriend or my husband …
LYSISTRATA:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
Go on, say it!
MYRRHINE:
… shall approach me with a hard-on.
CALONIKE:
Oh dear lord,
my knees are going weak, Lysistrata. 220
LYSISTRATA:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
MYRRHINE:
I’ll live in chastity and stay at home …
LYSISTRATA:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
MYRRHINE:
wearing a saffron gown, my face made up.
LYSISTRATA:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed. 225
MYRRHINE:
In this way shall my husband be inflamed.
LYSISTRATA:
But never shall I let him have his way.
MYRRHINE:
But never shall I let him have his way.
LYSISTRATA:
If he should force me, though, against my will …
MYRRHINE:
If he should force me, though, against my will … 230
LYSISTRATA:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
MYRRHINE:
I shall not help out, or get into it …
LYSISTRATA:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
MYRRHINE:
… or stretch my slippered feet up toward the ceiling.
LYSISTRATA:
Nor shall I assume the position known as … 235
MYRRHINE:
Nor shall I assume the position known as …
LYSISTRATA:
“… the crouching lioness on the cheese-grater.”
MYRRHINE:
“… the crouching lioness on the cheese-grater.”
LYSISTRATA:
If I fulfill this oath, then let me drink.
MYRRHINE:
If I fulfill this oath, then let me drink. 240
LYSISTRATA:
If not, then let this cup be filled with water.