Athenian-born Menander (c. 342-291 B.C.) wrote over 100 plays, his first at age 22. He is the most famous writer of what is described as Athenian new comedy. Eight of his comedies were prize-winners. He imitated Euripides and was in turn adapted by Roman writers of comedy, Terence and Plautus. Unlike the classical writers who wrote mythical plots or political commentary, Menander chose as topics for his plays aspects of daily life with happy endings and themes inspired by Aristotle's Ethics. Menander's characters, shown with psychological realism, were stern fathers, young lovers, crafty slaves, and more, who couldn't resort to the deus ex machina of tragedy to settle their problems.
See: "Menander in Current Criticism," by Levi Arnold Post. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 65, (1934), pp. 13-34.
"The Tragic Mask of Comedy: Metatheatricality in Menander," by Kathryn Gutzwiller. Classical Antiquity, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Apr., 2000), pp. 102-137.
"Character Drawing in Menander's 'Dyskolos': Misanthropy and Philanthropy," by K. Haegemans. Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 54, Fasc. 6 (Dec., 2001), pp. 675-696.
