Amazon.com description: Product Description: This book surveys Shakespeare's comedies, charting the influence upon them of the ancient playwrights Plautus and Terence. Miola analyzes these sources, and places the comedies in their Renaissance context, as well as in the larger context of European theater. Discovering new indebtedness, and discerning new patterns in previously attested borrowings, Shakespeare and Classical Comedy presents an integrated and comprehensive assessment of the complex interactions of the Classical, Shakesperian, and other Renaissance theaters. Robert Miola's thoroughly researched book ranges over a vast amount of European drama, from Aristophanes to Beckett and Ionesco. It makes an important contribution to our understanding not only of Shakespeare and of his foremost antecedents, but also of his artistry and achievement.