Democratic Swarms: Ancient Comedy and the Politics of the People

"This book revisits the role of Greek comedy in ancient politics and how it has been overlooked as a political medium by modern theorists and critics. It critiques the neglect that Greek comedy has suffered due to our great affection for tragedy as a model of democracy and offers a remedy. The Greeks loved their comedies as much or even more than their tragedies. The book focuses on the collective aspects of ancient drama, especially comedy, with its swarming choruses that are represented as wielding great if ambivalent power within and beyond the confines of the dramatic setting. DuBois shows how ancient comedy (including, but not limited to, plays by Aristophanes), its laughter, its free speech, its wild swarming animal choruses and rebellious women can be used to establish another model of democracy, one grounded in the collective. DuBois advocates for a broader view that takes into account the resistant communal legacy of comedy, the roar of the demos or the disenfranchised, not just the individual voices of the powerful"--