Epilogue
Epilogue
The epilogue re-engages with the larger theoretical concerns of the book. Using Beckett’s often quoted call in Worstward Ho to “fail better” as a launching point into a discussion of the optimistic, non-Beckettian reading of the line and its implications for Aristophanes’ own narrative of failure, the chapter considers several themes that have informed the discussion of Aristophanes’ canonical positioning: re-enactment, literary affective relationships, and objects that endure. Proceeding to a closer consideration of “affective reading,” it focuses on the sensory dimensions of performance, particularly touch; the vibrant materiality of objects; and intertextuality. Future avenues of research are suggested: Does tragedy feel different from comedy—and are there, in fact, tactile differences among tragedians, as there are among comedians? Can we retrieve the particular texture of performance through the texture of contact between human and non-human agents onstage? The methodologies and theoretical paradigms employed in this book hold promise for dramatic studies far beyond the confines of Old Comedy.
Keywords: Aristophanes, Samuel Beckett, fail better, re-enactment, affective, objects, performance, vibrant materiality, intertextuality, texture
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