The use of comic elements in story-telling and literature is not simply the provenance of one particular culture, but is instead as much a natural and recurring technique as having stories about death, sex, and wonder. Lazarus compares and discusses comic elements used for didactic purposes in two separate literary traditions: Old Testament narrative and Aristophanic Comedies.


Aristophanic Old Comedy and Old Testament narratives come from two completely different traditions of ancient literature, from very different cultures, but both make use of humour to define what it means to be human...