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comedy
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Written by
Cyrus Henry Hoy
John B. Trevor Professor Emeritus of English, University of Rochester, New York. Author of The Hyacinth Room: An Investigation into the Nature of Comedy, Tragedy, and Tragicomedy.
Cyrus Henry Hoy
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comedy, type of drama or other art form the chief object of which, according to modern notions, is to amuse. It is contrasted on the one hand with tragedy and on the other with farce, burlesque, and other forms of humorous amusement. The classic conception of comedy, which began with Aristotle in ancient Greece of the 4th century bce and persists through the present, holds that it is primarily concerned with humans as social beings, rather than as private persons, and that its function is frankly corrective. The comic artist’s purpose is to hold a mirror up to society to ...(100 of 9986 words)

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