The comic view: an introduction -- The comedies: The clouds / Aristophanes -- Mandragola / N. Machiavelli -- Twelfth night / W. Shakespeare -- The miser / Moliere -- The beggar's opera / J. Gay -- The importance of being Earnest / O. Wilde -- Uncle Vanya / A. Chekhov -- Arms and the man / G. B. Shaw -- The essays: On the comic spirit / G. K. Chesterton -- Comedy / B. Dobree -- The comic rhythm / S. K. Langer -- The structure of comedy / N. Frye.