num_pages: 304
description: Patrick Downey finds comedy at the heart of the Western philosophical and theological tradition. In Serious Comedy Downey tracks tragedy and comedy from the beginning of Western thought to the twentieth century, beginning with an in-depth examination of Aristotle and three Platonic the Republic , the Phaedrus , and the Symposium . In the book's second section Downey argues that the Bible is at heart a comedic narrative and analyzes the philosophical and theological implications of this comedy. In the third section Downey traces comedy and tragedy in classic and modern philosophers such as Machiavelli, Dante, Hegel, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard. Readers with an interest in classical philosophy and theology, political philosophy, and narrative theory will be particularly interested in this insightful and thoughtful perspective on the Western tradition.
language: English
title: Serious Comedy: The Philosophical and Theological Significance of Tragic and Comic Writing in the Western Tradition
titlecomplete: Serious Comedy: The Philosophical and Theological Significance of Tragic and Comic Writing in the Western Tradition
ratings_count: 2
publisher: Lexington Books