I’m mostly satisfied with how my presentation went, but I definitely think I didn’t anticipate how much background/information would have been helpful for discussion. I’ve read the Poetics a couple of times, so I think I didn’t remember what I didn’t know/understand on the first reading. If I could do it again, I would spend more time explaining the general argument of the text as it pertains to drama in general. I also would have focused more on examples of inferior (or not inferior) imitation in comedy and our agreement/disagreement vs. it’s relation to Bakhtin. I think if the main focus was whether or not we agree with Aristotle, there might have been an interesting debate (since this is the historical trend vis-a-vis Aristotle). In short, I think more explanation on my part would have helped people unfamiliar with Aristotle and the text to engage with it. That being said, I think/hope it was useful to bring the Poetics in, since it does seem genealogically related to Bakhtin’s project and to the grotesque/carnivalesque.
Bawdy Bodies
