JOKING IN GREEK COMEDY: Jokes in Greek Comedy. From Puns to Poetics. Pp. x + 181. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. Cased, £85, US$115. ISBN: 978-1-350-24848-9

The overall answer/argument is that jokes in Greek comedy amplify – the verb is heavily repeated throughout the book – the incongruities and absurdity (defamiliarisation) inherent to all poetic representation (mimesis), and thus comedy exposes tragedy as no less ridiculous than itself. The book's tripartite structure (i.e. jokes about language, about performance and about plot) is economical and covers the most prevalent aspects of drama. Any minor reservations aside, this is a well-researched and well-written contribution on the competitive attitude of comedy towards tragedy, and also (what should be a gauge of success for such books) it is fun to read. dkanellakis@upatras.gr