L'ingegno proteiforme di Aristofane: verso la costruzione di un comico letterario

This paper consists of 5 sections. The first (Premessa) includes an analysis of the Aristophanic use of terms related to the root poikil-. The second (Il linguaggio degli oracoli: il disvelamento di un’impostura) is devoted to a detailed analysis of form and function of the imitation of the oracular genre by Aristophanes. The third (Le sperimentazioni liriche dei nuovi tragediografi: ‘deificazione’ della musica e vanificazione del contenuto) proposes a new interpretation of the scene of Agathon singing in Thesm. 101-29, where Aristophanes mocks not only (as it is generally believed) at the melodic and instrumental innovations but also at themes, language and compositive technique of the famous tragic poet. The fourth (Il linguaggio dell’agone politico-giudiziario) investigates a different kind of speech that is equally the object of Aristophanic mimesis, the rhetorically contrived politic-forensic speech, especially as used by female characters. The fifth (Le mille voci del ‘comico’) examines some expressions of Aristophanes’ comic artistry till now scarcely taken into consideration: the pun only conceived as an intellectual divertissement, the literary shaping of the abuse, a lyric approach to the everyday life.