Literary studies: plays and playwrights Books
The University of Chicago Press Shakespearean Territories
Book SynopsisA rising star in geography shows how Shakespeare’s plays can be understood through the concept of territory, which emerged in its modern form during Shakespeare’s lifeTrade Review"Shakespearean Territories offers illuminating analyses of Shakespeare's works that are immersed in relevant scholarship on the colonial, geophysical, and corporeal aspects of territory. This is a fascinating textual analysis that builds upon the concept of territory with Elden's characteristic nuance and depth."--Garrett Sullivan, Penn State University "A work of meticulous scholarship, Shakespearean Territories teases out and explains a wide range of geographical themes present in Shakespeare's plays with finesse and profound interpretation. Beyond the specific insights he offers on territory and geography as refracted through Shakespeare's plays, Elden displays the substantial value of bridging literary and historical-geographical analysis."--Alexander Murphy, University of Oregon "Shakespearean Territories is a truly groundbreaking volume that enriches our reading of Shakespeare at the same time as it illuminates our understanding of the nature and history of territory. An insightful and engrossing work, Shakespearean Territories demonstrates Elden's unquestionable position as the most significant thinker of territory and the geographic working today--and in relation to the literary and dramatic no less than the political."--Jeff Malpas, University of Tasmania
£76.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespearean Territories
Book SynopsisA rising star in geography shows how Shakespeare’s plays can be understood through the concept of territory, which emerged in its modern form during Shakespeare’s life.Trade Review"Shakespearean Territories offers illuminating analyses of Shakespeare's works that are immersed in relevant scholarship on the colonial, geophysical, and corporeal aspects of territory. This is a fascinating textual analysis that builds upon the concept of territory with Elden's characteristic nuance and depth."--Garrett Sullivan, Penn State University "A work of meticulous scholarship, Shakespearean Territories teases out and explains a wide range of geographical themes present in Shakespeare's plays with finesse and profound interpretation. Beyond the specific insights he offers on territory and geography as refracted through Shakespeare's plays, Elden displays the substantial value of bridging literary and historical-geographical analysis."--Alexander Murphy, University of Oregon "Shakespearean Territories is a truly groundbreaking volume that enriches our reading of Shakespeare at the same time as it illuminates our understanding of the nature and history of territory. An insightful and engrossing work, Shakespearean Territories demonstrates Elden's unquestionable position as the most significant thinker of territory and the geographic working today--and in relation to the literary and dramatic no less than the political."--Jeff Malpas, University of Tasmania
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press The Soul of Tragedy
Book SynopsisBrings together scholars to offer perspectives on the Greek tragedy. The collection pays homage to this genre by offering an exploration into the oldest form of dramatic expression. This book is a celebration and a model of collaboration that will be useful reading for scholars in classics, literature, and drama.
£28.00
The University of Chicago Press Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the
Book SynopsisAmid the crowded streets of Chester, guild players portraying biblical characters performed on colorful mobile stages hoping to draw the attention of fellow townspeople. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these Chester plays employed flamboyant live performance to adapt biblical narratives. But the original format of these fascinating performances remains cloudy, as surviving records of these plays are sparse, and the manuscripts were only written down a generation after they stopped. Revealing a vibrant set of social practices encoded in the Chester plays, Matthew Sergi provides a new methodology for reading them and a transformative look at medieval English drama. Carefully combing through the plays, Sergi seeks out cues in the dialogues that reveal information about the original staging, design, and acting. These practical cues, as he calls them, have gone largely unnoticed by drama scholars, who have focused on the ideology and historical contexts of these plays, rather tTrade Review“It’s not often that a scholarly book has the potential to transform and reorient the corner of the field that it addresses. Sergi’s Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is one of those books. It will be recognized for its major interventions in early drama studies.” -- Theresa M Coletti, author of Mary Magdalene and the Drama of Saints: Theater, Gender, and Religion in Late Medieval England“Sergi’s deeply erudite but also ebullient book on the Chester plays reminds us why we call such things ‘plays’ in the first place. Combining the expertise of a theater practitioner, a scholar, a performance theorist, a textual detective, and a close reader par excellence, Sergi deftly uncovers how much meaning and merriment is to be found in the ‘practical cues’ for action and spectacle in the Chester play texts and their archival contexts. Both playful and profound, this book overturns so much conventional wisdom that it should be required reading for anyone interested in premodern performance or who needs a convincing case for why they should be.” -- Christina M. Fitzgerald, editor of The York Corpus Christi Play: Selected Pageants"In Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays, Matthew Sergi provides a compelling account of what the Chester plays must have been in performance: a multivocal, hyperlocal, temporally layered, unrestrained expression of Cestrian life in all its vibrant disorder. In doing so, he models a transformative approach for engaging with early drama through a process of deductive reconstruction, built on the understanding that much more happens in the production of a play than what we find recorded in extant manuscripts." * Journal of British Studies *"Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is a remarkably accomplished first book. Its prose is clear and vigorous; it is deeply knowledgeable about its material and persuasive in its reconstructions. It will be of interest to anyone who works on medieval drama, and indeed to anyone concerned with the history of theatrical possibility." * Speculum *
£87.40
The University of Chicago Press Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the
Book SynopsisTrade Review“It’s not often that a scholarly book has the potential to transform and reorient the corner of the field that it addresses. Sergi’s Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is one of those books. It will be recognized for its major interventions in early drama studies.” -- Theresa M Coletti, author of Mary Magdalene and the Drama of Saints: Theater, Gender, and Religion in Late Medieval England“Sergi’s deeply erudite but also ebullient book on the Chester plays reminds us why we call such things ‘plays’ in the first place. Combining the expertise of a theater practitioner, a scholar, a performance theorist, a textual detective, and a close reader par excellence, Sergi deftly uncovers how much meaning and merriment is to be found in the ‘practical cues’ for action and spectacle in the Chester play texts and their archival contexts. Both playful and profound, this book overturns so much conventional wisdom that it should be required reading for anyone interested in premodern performance or who needs a convincing case for why they should be.” -- Christina M. Fitzgerald, editor of The York Corpus Christi Play: Selected Pageants"In Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays, Matthew Sergi provides a compelling account of what the Chester plays must have been in performance: a multivocal, hyperlocal, temporally layered, unrestrained expression of Cestrian life in all its vibrant disorder. In doing so, he models a transformative approach for engaging with early drama through a process of deductive reconstruction, built on the understanding that much more happens in the production of a play than what we find recorded in extant manuscripts." * Journal of British Studies *"Practical Cues and Social Spectacle in the Chester Plays is a remarkably accomplished first book. Its prose is clear and vigorous; it is deeply knowledgeable about its material and persuasive in its reconstructions. It will be of interest to anyone who works on medieval drama, and indeed to anyone concerned with the history of theatrical possibility." * Speculum *
£26.00
The University of Chicago Press Sovereign Amity Figures of Friendship in
Book SynopsisRenaissance formulations of friendship typically cast the friend as another self and idealized a pair of friends as one soul in two bodies. This work puts the stress on the likeness of friends into context and offers a historical account of its place in English culture and politics.
£28.00
The University of Chicago Press Unbridled Studying Religion in Performance
Book SynopsisA study of religion through the lens of Peter Shaffer's play Equus. In Unbridled, William Robert uses Equus, Peter Shaffer's enigmatic play about a boy passionately devoted to horses, to think differently about religion. For several years, Robert has used Equus to introduce students to the study of religion, provoking them to conceive of religion in unfamiliar, even uncomfortable ways. In Unbridled, he is inviting readers to do the same. A play like Equus tangles together text, performance, practice, embodiment, and reception. Studying a play involves us in playing different roles, as ourselves and others, and those roles, as well as the imaginative work they require, are critical to the study of religion. By approaching Equus with the reader, turning the play around and upside-down, Unbridled transforms standard approaches to the study of religion, engaging with themes including ritual, sacrifice, worship, power, desire, violence, and sexuality, as well as thinkers including Judith Butler, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jonathan Z. Smith. As Unbridled shows, the way themes and theories play out in Equus challenges us to reimagine the study of religion through open questions, contrasting perspectives, and alternative modes of interpretation and appreciation. Trade Review"Unbridled treats Equus as a prism through which to reimagine the study of religion, asking urgent questions and inviting us to critically rethink methods as openings. With an inviting mix of confidence and humility, Robert reinvigorates pedagogical discussions, delivering insights about the difference between reverence and devotion, the meaning of critique, and the nature of literature. Every page provokes thoughts about how we teach and think about religion, and how we might do it otherwise.” -- Constance M. Furey, coauthor of Devotion: Three Inquiries in Religion, Literature, and Political Imagination“Unbridled is a compelling, engaging, sophisticated provocation for how the study of religion might be done differently. Keeping his eyes fixed on Equus, Robert touches on themes central to the study of religion—performance, ritual, embodiment, sacrifice, image, worship, sexuality, violence—while also defamiliarizing the operation of these terms by following what Equus prompts us to think about them.” -- Kent Brintnall, author of Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive FigureTable of ContentsPlaybill Program Notes Cast Prologue Act 1 1.1 Mise-en-scène 1.2 Imagination 1.3 Literature 1.4 Performance 1.5 Case 1.6 Terms 1.7 Problems 1.8 Question Act 2 2.1 Staging 2.2 Performance-Text 2.3 Inter- 2.4 Mask 2.5 Play 2.6 Acting 2.7 Make-Believe 2.8 Play-in-Play Act 3 3.1 Casting 3.2 Relations 3.3 Image 3.4 Human-Horse-Divinity 3.5 Devotion 3.6 Sexuality 3.7 Queer 3.8 Nude Act 4 4.1 Directing 4.2 Passion 4.3 Pain 4.4 Normal 4.5 Tragedy 4.6 Sacrifice 4.7 Ending 4.8 Value Epilogue Encore Credits Notes References Index
£72.20
The University of Chicago Press Theater of the Mind
Book SynopsisFor generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a theater of the mind. This book examines that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its historical context.Trade Review"Theater of the Mind does more to reanimate the study of radio forms and structures - indeed, of sound art in general - than any work published in recent memory. Neil Verma's exploration of audio narratives and sonic techniques during radio drama's heyday opens up a vast body of creative work that has been shut off from serious contemplation for decades. It is an important intervention in the growing field of sound studies, not to be missed." (Michele Hilmes, University of Wisconsin - Madison)"
£90.00
The University of Chicago Press Theater of the Mind Imagination Aesthetics and
Book SynopsisFor generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a theater of the mind. This book examines that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its historical context.Trade Review"Theater of the Mind does more to reanimate the study of radio forms and structures - indeed, of sound art in general - than any work published in recent memory. Neil Verma's exploration of audio narratives and sonic techniques during radio drama's heyday opens up a vast body of creative work that has been shut off from serious contemplation for decades. It is an important intervention in the growing field of sound studies, not to be missed." (Michele Hilmes, University of Wisconsin - Madison)"
£31.00
The University of Chicago Press Shakespeare and the Law
Book SynopsisDemonstrates that Shakespeare's thinking about legal concepts points to a deep engagement with the law's technical workings, its underlying premises, and its social effects. This book considers Shakespeare's awareness of common law thinking and practice through examinations of Measure for Measure and Othella.
£76.00
McGill-Queen's University Press From the Battlefield to the Stage
Book SynopsisKnown today chiefly for his surrender to the American forces at Saratoga in 1777, General John Burgoyne led a multidimensional life. From the Battlefield to the Stage remembers him as not only a participant in one of Britain’s worst military disasters but also a brave soldier, successful playwright, reforming politician, and popular socialite.Trade Review“From the Battlefield to the Stage has the merit of brevity, clear writing, and rich contextualization based on Poser’s admirable knowledge of the culture and politics of eighteenth-century Britain. This is a fresh account of Burgoyne, and the first major biography of the enigmatic general in decades.” Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, author of The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire"A welcome contextualization of a multifaceted and previously misunderstood man. In this new work, Poser snatches the general off the battlefield at Saratoga and removes him from the confines of military history. Poser's From the Battlefield to the Stage adds depth and truth to 'Gentleman Johnny,' by filling in the gaps of previous biographies to do justice to a figure who is more than his failures." American History Magazine"From the Battlefield to the Stage looks beyond Burgoyne’s military service, casting him as an enlightened participant in the cultural and political spheres of eighteenth century Britain. Poser argues convincingly that Burgoyne deserves to be remembered for much more than Saratoga ... ." Times Literary Supplement“The greatest strength of this book is how much time Poser devotes to Burgoyne’s life before and after the thunderclap of Saratoga. Clearly an engaging man (he won over the father of the woman he eloped with) the impression created is of a character whose company was very agreeable. For students of the War of Independence, From the Battlefield to the Stage is essential reading, but it will also appeal to anyone with a wider interest in 18th century cultural history.” History of War
£26.59
Columbia University Press TwentiethCentury Italian Drama
Book SynopsisThis work explores the best of contemporary Italian theatre, from Luigi Pirandello to Massimo Bontempelli. It covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the aftermath of World War II, and includes a number of translations of plays never before published in English.Table of ContentsGabriele d'Annunzio A Spring Morning's Dream (1897), Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Connecting Vessels (1916), Translated by Jane House They Are Coming (1915), Translated by Victoria Nes Kirby Feet (1915), Translated by Victoria Nes Kirby Ettore Petrolini Fortunello (1915), Translated by Jane House Music for Fortunello Raffaele Viviani Via Toleda by Night (1918), Translated from the Neopolitan-Italian by Martha King Music for Via Toledo by Night Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo Puppets of Passion (1918), Translated by Jane House Federigo Tozzi The Casting (1919), Translated by Gisolfi D'Aponte and Jane House Massimo Bontempelli, Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Dea by Dea (1925), Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Music for Dea by Dea Achille Campanile The Inventor of the Horse (1925), Translated by Laurence Senelick Italo Svevo With Guilded Pen (1926), Translated by Anthony Oldcorn Alternative Versions and Dialogue Fragments Luigi Pirandello Why? (1892), Translated by Jane House Tonight We Improvise (1930), Translated, with notes, by J. Douglas Campbell and Leonard G. Sbrocchi Eduardo De Filippo The Nativity Scene (1931-36), Translated and adapted from the Neapolitan-Italian by Anthony Molino with Paul F Alternate Version of Act 3, Translated by Anthony Molino Ugo Betti Crime on Goat Island (1946), Translated by Henry Reed Alberto Savinio Emma B. Widow Jocasta (1949), Translated by Martha King Bibliography Contributors
£67.20
Columbia University Press Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees
Book SynopsisThis book carefully translates a seminal work of Japanese puppet theater, written in 1747, during the the genre's golden age. The editor includes background information on the play and a bibliography.Trade ReviewThoroughly researched and elegantly written... an excellent text for inclusion in a survey course of Japanese theatre. Asian Theatre Journal A good translation of this magnificent play. Monumenta NipponicaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees Dramatis Personae Prologue Act One Scene 1. The Imperial Palace Scene 2. The Hermitage at North Saga Village Scene 3. The Horikawa Mansion Scene 4. Kawagoe Taro Comes as Envoy Act Two Scene 1. Before the Fushimi Inari Shrine Scene 2. The Tokaiya Act Three Scene 1. The Pasania Tree Scene 2. The Death of Kokingo Scene 3. The Sushi Shop Act Four Scene 1. Michiyuki: The Journey with the Drum Scene 2. The Zao Hall Scene 3. The Conference at the Zao Hall Scene 4. The Mansion of Kawatsura Hogen Scene 5. The Fox Act Five Scene 1. In the Mountains of Yoshino Bibliography
£25.20
Columbia University Press Scenes for Mandarins
Book SynopsisThe first introduction to the classical Chinese theater of Ming drama contains highlights from six of the best plays of the period and lively commentary on each, providing the context necessary for Western readers to grasp the scope of the genre.
£29.75
Columbia University Press Putting History to the Question Power Politics and Society in English Renaissance Drama
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£30.40
Columbia University Press The Columbia Anthology of Yuan Drama
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA much broader representation of Yuan zaju drama than previous translations offer. What's more, the editors do a marvelous job providing ample historical sources for the plays. These rich and detailed annotations make it especially useful for teaching purposes and for general readers. -- Tian Yuan Tan, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London This magnificent collection represents the great variety in subject and style on the early Chinese stage. Almost all the translations are based on the early-seventeenth-century versions of these plays prepared by Zang Maoxun (d. 1621), who provided his contemporary readers with carefully prepared and lavishly produced editions. Eminently readable, these editions have ensured the place of Yuan drama in late-imperial and modern literature, and for almost four centuries they have shaped Chinese and foreign readers' image of these dramas. -- Wilt L. Idema, Research Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University A landmark in the translation of Chinese literature. Not only are the renditions exceptionally lively, engaging, and beautifully crafted, but the thematic range of the ten plays--each accompanied by an informative introduction--illustrates the richness of the early corpus of Chinese song-drama. Meticulously annotated and responsive to the complexities of the textual history, the translations will enchant scholars, undergraduates, and general readers alike. -- Patricia Sieber, Ohio State University A joy to read. Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part 1. Historical Plays 1. Ji Junxiang, The Zhao Orphan, translated by Pi-twan Huang and Wai-yee Li The Zhao Orphan in Yuan Editions, by Wai-yee Li 2. Anonymous, Tricking Kuai Tong, translated by Wai-yee Li Part 2. Crime and Punishment 3. Anonymous, Selling Rice in Chenzhou, translated by Richard C. Hessney 4. Meng Hanqing, The Moheluo Doll, translated by Jonathan Chaves Part 3. Folly and Consequences 5. Qin Jianfu, The Eastern Hall Elder, translated by Robert E. Hegel and Wai-yee Li 6. Li Zhifu, The Tiger Head Plaque, translated by Yoram Szekely, C. T. Hsia, Wai-yee Li, and George Kao Part 4. Female Agency 7. Guan Hanqing, Rescuing a Sister, translated by George Kao and Wai-yee Li 8. Shi Junbao, Qiu Hu Tries to Seduce His Wife, translated by John Coleman, James M. Hargett, Kuan-fook Lai, Gloria Shen, and Wang Ming Part 5. Romantic Love 9. Bai Pu, On Horseback and Over the Garden Wall, translated by Jerome Cavanaugh and Wai-yee Li 10. Li Haogu, Scholar Zhang Boils the Sea, translated by Allen A. Zimmerman Bibliography
£101.70
Columbia University Press The Columbia Anthology of Yuan Drama
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA much broader representation of Yuan zaju drama than previous translations offer. What's more, the editors do a marvelous job providing ample historical sources for the plays. These rich and detailed annotations make it especially useful for teaching purposes and for general readers. -- Tian Yuan Tan, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London This magnificent collection represents the great variety in subject and style on the early Chinese stage. Almost all the translations are based on the early-seventeenth-century versions of these plays prepared by Zang Maoxun (d. 1621), who provided his contemporary readers with carefully prepared and lavishly produced editions. Eminently readable, these editions have ensured the place of Yuan drama in late-imperial and modern literature, and for almost four centuries they have shaped Chinese and foreign readers' image of these dramas. -- Wilt L. Idema, Research Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University A landmark in the translation of Chinese literature. Not only are the renditions exceptionally lively, engaging, and beautifully crafted, but the thematic range of the ten plays--each accompanied by an informative introduction--illustrates the richness of the early corpus of Chinese song-drama. Meticulously annotated and responsive to the complexities of the textual history, the translations will enchant scholars, undergraduates, and general readers alike. -- Patricia Sieber, Ohio State University A joy to read. Journal of Asian StudiesTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Part 1. Historical Plays 1. Ji Junxiang, The Zhao Orphan, translated by Pi-twan Huang and Wai-yee Li The Zhao Orphan in Yuan Editions, by Wai-yee Li 2. Anonymous, Tricking Kuai Tong, translated by Wai-yee Li Part 2. Crime and Punishment 3. Anonymous, Selling Rice in Chenzhou, translated by Richard C. Hessney 4. Meng Hanqing, The Moheluo Doll, translated by Jonathan Chaves Part 3. Folly and Consequences 5. Qin Jianfu, The Eastern Hall Elder, translated by Robert E. Hegel and Wai-yee Li 6. Li Zhifu, The Tiger Head Plaque, translated by Yoram Szekely, C. T. Hsia, Wai-yee Li, and George Kao Part 4. Female Agency 7. Guan Hanqing, Rescuing a Sister, translated by George Kao and Wai-yee Li 8. Shi Junbao, Qiu Hu Tries to Seduce His Wife, translated by John Coleman, James M. Hargett, Kuan-fook Lai, Gloria Shen, and Wang Ming Part 5. Romantic Love 9. Bai Pu, On Horseback and Over the Garden Wall, translated by Jerome Cavanaugh and Wai-yee Li 10. Li Haogu, Scholar Zhang Boils the Sea, translated by Allen A. Zimmerman Bibliography
£29.75
Columbia University Press A Field of Honor Writers Court Culture and
Book SynopsisThis study of eighteenth-century French playwriting and playwrights reviews individual authorial strategies for self-fashioning and the playwrights' intellectual, social, and institutional contexts, using research in original sources and analysis of the contentious historiography and competing analytic contructs in cultural theory and criticism.Trade ReviewBrown's book provides a fascinating analysis of the world of dramatic authors during the Old Regime...Effectively challenges aspects of historians'current understanding of the political culture of Old Regime France while providing new interpretations of dramatic writers and their relationship with that culture... And its overall quality is certainly equal to that of the best historical monographs published in the traditional manner. American Historical Review How giants like Voltaire and Beaumarchais managed to beat the system, turn it to their advantage, and, in the case of Beaumarchais, make the Comedie work more in the interests of the profession. But Brown does not neglect the authors whom the system beat... An exceptional contribution to theater and cultural history. H France An important contribution to studies of cultural politics in the... eighteenth century and is sure to become required reading. -- Katherine Astbury British Journal of Eighteenth-Century Studies
£54.40
Columbia University Press Chinese Shakespeares
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe best of a new generation of scholarship based on rigorous archival research that moves the field in significant new directions. The China Quarterly Among the most innovative monographs this year is Chinese Shakespeares. Particularly exciting is Huang's emphasis on the two-way exchange between Shakespeare and China. His examples are temporally, geographically, and ideologically diverse. By looking to the local, Huang is able to question the terms of current cross-cultural discourse-to ask whether hybridity is necessarily progressive, to make an important distinction between universalizing and globalizing impulses, to insist on the plurality and individuality of any given audience. SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 In the recent spate of scholarship on Shakespeare... Huang's volume stands out as being particularly valuable,... offering a model for theorizing cross-cultural entanglements that goes beyond its specific subject matter. Choice A splendid book,... well written and illustrated. Highly infused with theory, it adds to our understanding of the ways in which great cultures interpenetrate and enrich each other. It is a truly path-breaking book. I recommend it strongly not only to all those interested in Chinese culture but those interested in theatre and drama and the many ways in which the performing arts inform societies and cultures. MCLC: Modern Chinese Literature and Culture This book maps new territory for the most promising project in comparative literature today... Remarkable not only for its sophistication but also for its scholarly depth, Chinese Shakespeares is a landmark in the renewal of comparative literature as a discipline. citation from the Modern Language Association's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary studies Chinese Shakespeares is a critically sophisticated study that is grounded in firsthand knowledge of every major stage production, film, and critical article on the subject of Shakespeare in China. -- Charles Ross Comparative Literature Studies A fascinating and important study The Year's Work in English Studies His keen observations on intercultural exchange and critique of prevailing discourses make the book relevant not only to scholars and students of sinophone Shakespeare but also to Shakespeareans exploring the Bard's afterlife in various fields: dissemination, modernization, localization, translation, transplantation, appropriation, and intercultural or cross-media adaptation. -- Bi-qi Beatrice Lei Modern Language Quarterly His scholarship is meticulous, wide-ranging, and very well presented. Theatre Journal Alexander Huang has done a masterly job... The book gives us an excellent picture of the various takes on Shakespeare, as well as inroads to understanding the complicated national, global, and personal meanings that are part of the Shakespeare phenomenon. -- Wendy Larson Modern PhilologyTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on Texts and Translation Prologue Part I. Theorizing Global Localities 1. Owning Chinese Shakespeares Part II. The Fiction of Moral Space 2. Shakespeare in Absentia: The Genealogy of an Obsession 3. Rescripting Moral Criticism: Charles and Mary Lamb, Lin Shu, and Lao She Part III. Locality at Work 4. Silent Film and Early Theater: Performing Womanhood and Cosmopolitanism 5. Site-Specific Readings: Confucian Temple, Labor Camp, and Soviet-Chinese Theater Part IV. Postmodern Shakespearean Orients 6. Why Does Everyone Need Chinese Opera? 7. Disowning Shakespeare and China Epilogue Select Chronology Notes Select Bibliography Index
£82.80
Columbia University Press Sakuntala
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThrough a timeless character of legend and literature, we are allowed a ringside view of our most fascinating cultural--and gendered--history. India Today Thapar shows how it is possible to express complex ideas, rooted in philosophy and hermeneutics, without recourse to jargon. This book is a frontrunner for the prize of the best book on Indian history. Telegraph As fascinating as Sakuntala's journey is Thapar's retelling of it and her careful assumption of the role of a literary detective. Hindu Thapar's wide-ranging essays and monographs make a strong case for the urgency to historicize traditions and highlight the changing meanings of texts and oral cultures. Hindustan Times A virtuoso feat of historical and cultural analysis. Biblio Professor Thapar's book is not only significant in uncovering the historical impulses, often multiply driven, that empower certain readings or receptions of the story but also gives us in the process many of those forgotten stories -- Saswati Sengupta Religions of South AsiaTable of ContentsPreface 1. Preliminaries 2. The Narrative from the Mahabharata 3. The Abhijnana-sakuntalam of Kalidasa Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection-the play by Kalidasa 4. Popular and high culture as historical parallels 5. Adaptations: another popular tradition and its role in another court 6. Translations: Orientalism, German romanticism and the image of Sakuntala 7. Translation: colonial views 8. Sakuntala from the perspective of middle-class nationalism 9. Conclusion Endnotes
£25.20
Columbia University Press Learning to Kneel
Book SynopsisLearning to Kneel locates noh drama’s influence on American and European writers, dancers, and composers. Carrie J. Preston’s work has been profoundly shaped by her training in noh performance. While her subjects are often criticized for Orientalist tendencies, Preston’s own journey reflects a more nuanced understanding of cultural exchange.Trade ReviewWhat drew Western writers to an arcane, highly stylized form of Japanese court theater? As a scholar, Carrie J. Preston answers this question by way of the archive, unearthing a global network of dancers and writers. But she also pursues this question as a student, subjecting herself to the rigors of noh training. The result is an unusual blend of both approaches, a magisterial study in cultural history that is also a compelling story of teaching and learning. -- Martin Puchner, Harvard University Eloquently, movingly, and persuasively, Preston traces modernism's fascination with noh through European and Japanese histories of poetry, drama, and performance. She asks us to reflect on the project of cross-cultural learning, what it means to know another culture as well as what it means to know one's own. A tour de force of memoir and scholarship, at once entertaining and erudite, Learning to Kneel shows us why mistranslation, partial fluency, and failing to understand have been crucial to the transnational history of modernism. -- Rebecca Walkowitz, Rutgers University Kneel before this humbling account of submission and, at times, personal but never sentimental antidote to both easy celebrations of multiculturalism and easy critiques of cultural appropriation. Sitting with calm strength at the intersections of performance, pedagogy, and the politics of 'global modernism,' Preston successfully reinvents the modernist reinvention of noh as a timely, urgent topic by asking what it means to succeed or fail. Don't fail to read it. -- Christopher Bush, Northwestern University In Learning to Kneel, Preston tells the story not only of the influence of Japanese culture and noh theater on modernist writers from Yeats to Beckett but also of her personal experience as a neophyte practitioner of noh. Together, these narratives brilliantly reframe received ideas about cross-cultural aesthetic transformation, the relation of success and failure in art, and the tension between subversion and tradition that underlies any form of training or pedagogy. -- Scott Klein, Wake Forest UniversityTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction to Noh Lessons1. Ezra Pound as Noh Student2. Theater in the "Deep": W. B. Yeats's At the Hawk's Well3. Ito Michio's Hawk Tours in Modern Dance and Theater4. Pedagogical Intermission: A Lesson Plan for Bertolt Brecht's Revisions5. Noh Circles in Twentieth-Century Japanese Performance6. Trouble with Titles and Directors: Benjamin Britten and William Plomer's Curlew River and Samuel Beckett's Footfalls/PasCodaNotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex
£22.00
Columbia University Press Plots
Book SynopsisLiterary narrative enchants us through its development of plot, but plot tells its own story about the making of narrative. Through readings of King Lear and Crime and Punishment, Robert L. Belknap explores the spatial, chronological, and causal aspects of plot, arguing that plots teach us novelistic rather than poetic justice.Trade ReviewPlots is an almost perfect book by one of this country's great scholar-teachers on why the literary art of arranging episodes matters to us. Not only luminously smart but also perfectly plotted (Robert L. Belknap's model plot-mongers are Shakespeare and Dostoevsky), each detail of the book's structure, chronological argument, and diction conspire to create that rare work of criticism: a story we cannot put down. -- Caryl Emerson, Princeton University Plots is a brilliant piece of work, well-written, and insightful-a sheer pleasure to follow. Belknap's definitions of the terms of Russian formalism are clearer than anyone else's, and his sense of what they suggest is richer. -- Gary Morson, Northwestern University Plots has an adamantine quality, as if decades of thought and teaching were being crystallized and enormously compressed... Plots reveals that with Belknap's death, we lost a critic and literary historian of great power and considerable ingenuity. -- Scott McLemee Inside Higher Ed You may never look at a story the same way again after reading Robert Belknap's incisively clear and illuminating book, titled simply, Plots. The Fictional 100 A valuable addition to the scholarship on plot and narration ChoiceTable of ContentsPreface Introduction, by Robin Feuer Miller Part I. Literary Plots Deserve Still More Study 1. Plots Arrange Literary Experience 2. Plot Summaries Need More Serious Study 3. The Fabula Arranges the Events in the World the Characters Inhabit; the Siuzhet Arranges the Events in the World the Reader Encounters in the Text 4. Authors Can Relate One Incident to Another Only Chronologically, Spatially, Causally, Associatively, or Narratively 5. Plots are Fractal, Formed from Incidents That Are Formed from Smaller, Similarly Shaped Incidents 6. The Best Authorities Consider Plots and Incidents to Be Tripartite, with a Situation, a Need, and an Action 7. But Siuzhets and the Incidents That Form Them Have Two Parts: An Expectation and Its Fulfillment or Frustration Part II. The Plot of King Lear Operates Purposefully But Also Reflects the Creative Process 8. For Integrity of Impact, Stages, Actors, and the Audience Need a Unity of Action 9. Shakespeare Replaced the Greek Unity of Action with a New Thematic Unity Based on Parallelism 10. Shakespeare Uses Conflict, the Righting of Wrongs, the Healing of an Inruption or Disruption, and Other Standard Plotting Devices, But His Recognition Scenes Move Us Most 11. Shakespeare Prepares for His Recognition Scenes with Elaborate Lies 12. In King Lear, Shakespeare Uses Elaborated Lies to Psychologize the Gloucester Subplot 13. Tolstoy and Tate Preferred the Comforting Plots of Lear's Sources to Shakespeare's, But Shakespeare Had Considered That Variant and Rejected It Part III. The Plot of Crime and Punishment Draws Rhetorical and Moral Power from the Nature of Novel Plots and from the European and Russian Tradition Dostoevsky Inherited and Developed 14. European Novelists Elaborated or Assembled Incidents into Plots Long Before Critics Recognized the Sophistication of the New Genre in Plotting Such Subgenres as the Letter Novel and the Detective Novel 15. Dostoevsky Shaped and Was Shaped by the Russian Version of the Nineteenth-Century Novel 16. In Reinventing the Psychological Plot, Dostoevsky Challenged the Current Literary Leaders 17. The Siuzhet of Part 1 of Crime and Punishment Programs the Reader to Read the Rest and to Participate Actively in a Vicious Murder 18. The One-Sidedness of Desire and Violence in Crime and Punishment Is More Peculiar to Dostoevsky's Plotting Than Dostoevshchina 19. Critics Often Attack Crime and Punishment for a Rhetoric That Exploits Causality in Ways They Misunderstand 20. The Epilogue of Crime and Punishment Crystallizes Its Ideological Plot 21. The Plots of Novels Teach Novelistic Justice, Not Poetic Justice Bibliography Index Works by Robert Belknap
£19.80
Columbia University Press Staged
Book SynopsisMinou Arjomand draws on a rich archive of postwar German and American performances to reveal theater as a place for forms of judgment that are inadmissible in a courtroom but indispensable for public life. Staged weaves together theater history and political philosophy into a powerful case for the importance of theaters as democratic institutions.Trade ReviewThis is a brilliant work that gives us both a social history and critical theory of postwar theatre. One thinks about the show trial as a terrible miscarriage of justice, but Arjomand gives trial theatre another function: public deliberation and judgment on responsibility and political justice. Whereas much attention has been given to the theatricality of legal trials, Arjomand asks us to value the public function of theatre in enacting debates on justice and establishing a public practice of considered judgment. The history of postwar German theatre offered here engaged in critical theory and aesthetics in a new and engaging argument about aesthetics and politics and the public functions of art in a democracy. -- Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California, BerkeleyTheatricality is pervasive in courtroom scenes. So is the question about the relationship between ethical judgment and the law. Political theater has always exploited this conjunction. The show trial exemplifies the ambivalence between law and theatricality, while the trial play offers a counterpoint. This is the constellation Minou Arjomand brilliantly explores, focusing on productions of trial plays, films, and TV courtroom series from Brecht and Piscator to Anna Deavere Smith, with Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy as a touchstone of the argument. A major intervention into the aesthetics of political theater. -- Andreas Huyssen, Columbia UniversityIn crystal-clear prose, Staged examines the unique relation between political thought and theater in German and German-American theater from the 1920s to the 1970s, one born from the historical experience of Nazism, the Holocaust, and their aftermath. I was struck by how much we can learn from this painful period of German and German-American theater and political thought. The book is very timely indeed. -- Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature, Harvard UniversityA thoughtful and intelligent book on the ways in which political theater, or more precisely courtroom dramas, create a space in which aesthetic, ethical, and political judgments bleed into one another. -- G. Grieve-Carlson, Lebanon Valley College * Choice *Staged marks an exciting moment for scholarship at the intersection of law and theater... emerge[ing] from the long-established insight that law and performance are mutually constitutive. -- Rebecca Kastleman, University of Virginia * The English Association *For its ambitious articulation of fundamental questions of aesthetics and politics, and for the study’s under-appreciated subjects, Staged should be read not just by those interested in post-war Germany but by anyone interested in how theatre can benefit judgement and justice. -- Matt Cornish, Ohio University * Modern Drama *An exciting moment for scholarship at the intersection of law and theater...Arjomand’s analysis offers a powerful defense of theater as a public institution. * The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *An important contribution to scholarship on political theater...[and] a strong argument for the continued political relevance of theater. -- Michael Swellander, University of Iowa * The Germanic Review *This book is full of small anecdotes...that add humanizing touches to its subject of study, giving readers a glimpse of the real personal and political stakes that these theatre artists encountered...highly accessible. -- Evleen Nasir, Louisiana State University * Theatre History Studies *A highly original book that confidently speaks to different audiences. * Contemporary Political Theory *Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Show Trials and Political Theater1. Hannah Arendt: Judging in Dark Times2. Bertolt Brecht: Poetic Justice3. Erwin Piscator: Theater After Auschwitz4. Trials in NurembergConclusion: Archives, Law, and Theater TodayNotesBibliographyIndex
£80.39
Columbia University Press A Couple of Soles
Book SynopsisA Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, it provides an unparalleled view of the theater in seventeenth-century China.Trade Review[A] masterful translation. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *A Couple of Soles is an entertaining example of seventeenth century Chinese drama made quite accessible to English-reading audiences. Of both literary and historical interest, and offering quite enjoyable drama, comedy, and romance, it's well worth a look. * Complete Review *Li Yu ranks among China's finest wits, yet none of his ten comedies had been translated into English. This masterful yet accessible rendition of A Couple of Soles makes, at long last, Li Yu's comic genius and theatrical ingenuity visible to students, readers, theater practitioners, and drama scholars around the world. -- Patricia Sieber, The Ohio State UniversityA Couple of Soles displays to the Anglophone world the masterful craft of the Chinese dramatist Li Yu—worthy statesman of the theater, as he was called by admirers. Sustained by extensive commentaries, informative notes, and contemporary wood-block illustrations, this edition by Jing Shen and Robert E. Hegel exemplifies the very best of translation-in-research. An excellent addition to the Asian Classics library. -- Vibeke Børdahl, Copenhagen UniversityLi Yu and his work are critical to understanding Chinese theater of his day because he insisted on writing against established conventions and wrote the single most complete guide to playwriting before the end of the imperial period in China. We should all be very grateful to the translators for their effort and care in translating this fascinating example of chuanqi drama. -- David Rolston, University of MichiganThis brilliant book combines excellent scholarship about the innovative seventeenth-century dramatist Li Yu, noted for his unrestrained speech and behavior, with a wonderful translation of one of his comedies. Both translators have established reputations in the field of Chinese drama and literature, which this book will certainly enhance. -- Colin Mackerras, Griffith UniversityAn accessible new translation of an important comic work . . . This translation would be of interest to students of Sinophone studies, dramatic literature, comparative literature, and scholars of Asian performing arts. The play serves as a welcome new resource that could be used in courses on premodern Chinese dramatic literature, comparative literature, and Asian studies, as well as for theatre artists seeking inspiration. * Asian Theatre Journal *A bold and boisterous celebration of theatricality that challenges preconceptions about traditional Chinese theater today with the same panache that it overturned widespread prejudice against actors in the seventeenth century . . . [This translation] inaugurates a host of new possibilities for the study of Chinese theater in the university classroom and beyond, and, with its emphasis on performance, adds considerable diversity to the range of chuanqi available in translation. * Journal of the American Oriental Society *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on the TranslationIntroduction, by Jing ShenDramatis Personae and Their Role CategoriesPreface, by Wang DuanshuScenesA Couple of SolesAppendix: The Playwright and His Art, by Jing ShenNotesBibliography
£58.90
Columbia University Press A Couple of Soles
Book SynopsisA Couple of Soles is a classic comedic romance by the seventeenth-century playwright Li Yu. The first major comedy from late imperial China to appear in English translation, it provides an unparalleled view of the theater in seventeenth-century China.Trade Review[A] masterful translation. . . . Highly recommended. * Choice *A Couple of Soles is an entertaining example of seventeenth century Chinese drama made quite accessible to English-reading audiences. Of both literary and historical interest, and offering quite enjoyable drama, comedy, and romance, it's well worth a look. * Complete Review *Li Yu ranks among China's finest wits, yet none of his ten comedies had been translated into English. This masterful yet accessible rendition of A Couple of Soles makes, at long last, Li Yu's comic genius and theatrical ingenuity visible to students, readers, theater practitioners, and drama scholars around the world. -- Patricia Sieber, The Ohio State UniversityA Couple of Soles displays to the Anglophone world the masterful craft of the Chinese dramatist Li Yu—worthy statesman of the theater, as he was called by admirers. Sustained by extensive commentaries, informative notes, and contemporary wood-block illustrations, this edition by Jing Shen and Robert E. Hegel exemplifies the very best of translation-in-research. An excellent addition to the Asian Classics library. -- Vibeke Børdahl, Copenhagen UniversityLi Yu and his work are critical to understanding Chinese theater of his day because he insisted on writing against established conventions and wrote the single most complete guide to playwriting before the end of the imperial period in China. We should all be very grateful to the translators for their effort and care in translating this fascinating example of chuanqi drama. -- David Rolston, University of MichiganThis brilliant book combines excellent scholarship about the innovative seventeenth-century dramatist Li Yu, noted for his unrestrained speech and behavior, with a wonderful translation of one of his comedies. Both translators have established reputations in the field of Chinese drama and literature, which this book will certainly enhance. -- Colin Mackerras, Griffith UniversityAn accessible new translation of an important comic work . . . This translation would be of interest to students of Sinophone studies, dramatic literature, comparative literature, and scholars of Asian performing arts. The play serves as a welcome new resource that could be used in courses on premodern Chinese dramatic literature, comparative literature, and Asian studies, as well as for theatre artists seeking inspiration. * Asian Theatre Journal *A bold and boisterous celebration of theatricality that challenges preconceptions about traditional Chinese theater today with the same panache that it overturned widespread prejudice against actors in the seventeenth century . . . [This translation] inaugurates a host of new possibilities for the study of Chinese theater in the university classroom and beyond, and, with its emphasis on performance, adds considerable diversity to the range of chuanqi available in translation. * Journal of the American Oriental Society *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsNote on the TranslationIntroduction, by Jing ShenDramatis Personae and Their Role CategoriesPreface, by Wang DuanshuScenesA Couple of SolesAppendix: The Playwright and His Art, by Jing ShenNotesBibliography
£19.00
Columbia University Press A TopsyTurvy World
Book SynopsisA Topsy-Turvy World presents English translations of shorter late Ming and early Qing plays. Satirical and often earthy, these mostly one-act plays provide a glimpse of Chinese daily life and mores even as they question or subvert the boundaries of social, moral, and political order.Trade ReviewThis treasure box of eleven short plays, most available in English for the first time, will delight anyone interested in early modern Chinese drama, culture, and society. Ranging from Buddhist charades to human puppet shows, from sword dances to drag masquerades, these thematically diverse and inventive plays are admirably translated with erudition and panache. -- Judith Zeitlin, author of The Phantom Heroine: Ghosts and Gender in Seventeenth-Century Chinese LiteratureA splendid expansion of the canon of traditional Chinese drama translations—the short plays offer a riotous deep dive into a world of laughter, while the scholarly commentary succinctly explores some of the fault lines of the early modern imagination. -- Patricia Sieber, coeditor of How to Read Chinese Drama in Chinese A Language CompanionA brilliant collection of rare and original works that provides a broad and varied view of Chinese performance traditions. The dominant leitmotif of these translations is the ingenuity and audacity with which writers subvert convention while questioning the sociopolitical order. -- Regina Llamas, translator of Top Graduate Zhang Xie: The Earliest Extant Chinese Southern PlayZaju plays of the Ming and Qing dynasties have long been a neglected area both in China and elsewhere. For that reason, this anthology is a timely translation. It provides new materials not only for general readers interested in premodern Chinese zaju plays but also for students and scholars to engage in further studies of the genre. -- Hongchu Fu, author of Chinese DramaTable of ContentsIntroductionTable of Dynasties1. Cracking a Dumb Chan Riddle2. The Mad Drummer: Thrice-Played Yuyang3. Chan Master Yu Has a Dream of Cuixiang4. Real Puppets5. Sublime Jokes from the Back of Beyond6. Pinning Flowers in His Coiffure7. A Song for a Laugh8. Ramblings with Magicians in Lyrics and Songs9. Black and White Donkeys10. Zaju from the Studio of Singing on the Wind11. Song of Dragon Well TeaAppendix: A List of Short Plays from the Period 1400 to 1850 Already Available in English TranslationContributorsReferences
£32.30
University of Illinois Press Broken Nuptials in Shakespeares Plays
Book SynopsisProviding a feminist interpretation of the plays that has been written, this work is aimed at feminists.Trade Review"No Shakespearean, feminist or not, should fail to read this book, the boldest, most tough-minded and meticulous feminist interpretation of the plays that has been written thus far." -- Coppelia Kahn, Shakespeare Quarterly
£16.14
University of Illinois Press Living with Lynching
Book SynopsisThe first full-length critical study of lynching plays in American cultureTrade ReviewWinner of the American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS) Book Award, 2012. Winner of the Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW) Book Award, 2012."Required reading for understanding the ways in which narrative and performance have been central to challenging white oppression as well as (re)imagining black identity in America. Highly recommended."--Choice "Mitchell expertly brings in critical approaches from literary and performance studies to show how concepts such as 'circulation' and 'impact' held different meaning for citizens trying to survive traumatic events. . . . Her study offers significant new insights into a key historical movement and provides a model of academic scholarship."--American Historical Review "Offers cogent insights into the cultural work of creative expression in a context of racial violence."--The Journal of American History"Impressively researched and powerfully argued, this first full-length critical study of lynching drama shows the ways that these plays galvanized dynamic conversations about the racialized politics of privacy, citizenship, patriotism, and gender roles in American culture. Living with Lynching is a tremendously illuminating work that breaks new ground in theater and performance studies, African American literary history, and women's and gender studies."--Daphne A. Brooks, author of Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850–1910"This vivid book makes a major contribution to the literature on lynching in the U.S. by excavating an under-examined archive of black dramatic responses to it. Offering a new and convincing periodization of lynching drama, Mitchell moves beyond the best known texts to illuminate a range of plays diligently retrieved and scrupulously interpreted. Living with Lynching is a testament to the endurance of black life in the face of social death."--Tavia Nyong'o, author of The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory"In addition to unearthing an underexplored archive of black women's writing, Mitchell engages with one of the central problematics of feminist and critical race theories: the ethics of representing atrocity. Essential Reading."--Legacy"Mitchell's Living with Lynching is thoroughly researched and exquisitely written. It is timely and a necessary read for anyone committed to repurposing historical African American strife for reconstruction and celebration."--Spectrum"[Mitchell] shows how performing lynching plays in community spaces allowed African Americans to actualize the various subjectivities . . . that lynchings sought to expunge. This book is required reading for understanding the ways in which narrative and performance have been central to challenging white oppression as well as (re)imagining black identity in America. Highly recommended."--Choice "An emphatic push to change how we understand, write about, and teach the phenomenon of lynching."--H-SHGAPE "Mitchell methodically documents and skillfully interprets lynching drama's important cultural work. . . . She illuminates an overlooked aspect African American literary history."--Arkansas Review "If ever a lynching book could be described as beautiful, it would undoubtedly be Mitchell's for the gracious way she takes care to read, generously and meticulously, all that she sees and hears (as well as what she does not see and hear) when she enters the homes that these characters have struggled to build for themselves."--Signs “Mitchell offers a cogent example of how African Americans deployed theater and performance to engage in quotidian acts of survival, belonging, self-affirmation, and citizenship that were not solely contingent on protesting white violence.”--MELUS “These dramatic works examined by Koritha Mitchell represent a body of literature that spoke directly to the horror of lynching and its immediate and long-term effects on African American families and communities. . . . An intriguing book.”--The Journal of African American HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction: Whose Evidence? Which Account?; Capital Entertainment, Better Representation Part I: Making Lynching Drama and Its Contributions Legible 1: Scenes and Scenarios: Reading Aright; 2: Re-defining "Black Theatre" Part II: Developing a Genre, Asserting Black Citizenship 3: The Black Soldier: Elevating Community Conversation; 4: The Black Lawyer: Preserving Testimony; 5: The Black Mother/Wife: Blue Blood Safe; 6: The Pimp and Coward: Frances Conclusion: Documenting Black Performance: Key Considerations Bibliography
£22.79
University of Illinois Press Slapstick Modernism
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book's central concept is unprecedented and, once explained, it seems quite extraordinary that no one has fleshed it out before. This is clearly a work of scope and insight whose ideas will have considerable applicability."--Juan Suãrez, author of Pop Modernism: Noise and the Reinvention of the Everyday "Slapstick Modernism uses a fresh and innovative methodology to examine the ways comic films influenced the experimental principals of artists and thinkers from the high modernism of the early 1920s through to the Beat generation."--The Year's Work in American Humor Studies"Admirably organized and beautifully written, it is stylistically uncontaminated by the frenetic lunacy it describes. It traces modernist literary experimentation and coterminous cinematic physical comedy, until the two parallel tracks merge in the final chapter to form a single phenomenon, "slapstick modernism."--TLS"Slapstick Modernism is a study of little remarked aesthetic influences, fascinating for articulating tendencies that should have been obvious (but were not)."--Shepherd Express"An ambitious book, Slapstick Modernism delineates a new literary sub-genre, arguing that physical humor becomes a way of undermining economic rationalism. . . . Recommended."--Choice"Solomon not only articulates a new category for understanding literary history, but ranges easily and provocatively across a wide and deep archive to show why that history matters."--Matthew Stratton, author of The Politics of Irony in American Modernism"An exciting, fresh study. Solomon illuminates the historical relationships between aesthetic modernism and anarchic screen comedy--unlikely allies in an attempt to negotiate, and survive, the sensory experiences of modernity. Brimming with attractions but absent conceptual pratfalls, the book also makes a compelling case for why, when modernism returns to U.S. artistic practices in late 1950s and 1960s, it often does so in the key of Keaton and Keystone. Solomon's revisionist account of modernism as a space of inspired immaturity and embodied lunacy is a joy to read."--Justus Nieland, co-author of Film Noir: Hard-Boiled Modernity and the Cultures of Globalization
£17.99
Indiana University Press England in the Age of Shakespeare
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe traces of the past are everywhere visible in the England of Jeremy Black's compendious new guide, England in the Age of Shakespeare. . . . Black attempts to capture a sense of early modern mentality: the average English person's worldview, the religious leanings of a multiply converted populace, the extent of the continuing faith in white and black magic. It is an inevitably fractured and overlapping picture, and Black is right to point out that the 'tensions and rift lines' visible in Elizabethan and Jacobean popular culture 'reflected the ambiguities and confusions of contemporary thought' (12–13). . . . This is a work of history not dramatic criticism, and . . . Black makes up for it with his richness of detail about the sights and sounds of early modern England. -- Will Tosh * Journal of British Studies *Table of ContentsPreface1. The Imagination of the Age2. The World of the Plays3. A Dynamic Country4. London 5. Narrating the Past: The History Plays6. The Narrative of Politics7. The Political Imagination8. Social Conditions, Structures, and Assumptions9. Health and Medicine10. Cultural Trends11. England and Europe12. The Wider World: Locating Prospero13. As We Like HimSelected Further ReadingIndex
£59.50
Indiana University Press England in the Age of Shakespeare
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe traces of the past are everywhere visible in the England of Jeremy Black's compendious new guide, England in the Age of Shakespeare. . . . Black attempts to capture a sense of early modern mentality: the average English person's worldview, the religious leanings of a multiply converted populace, the extent of the continuing faith in white and black magic. It is an inevitably fractured and overlapping picture, and Black is right to point out that the 'tensions and rift lines' visible in Elizabethan and Jacobean popular culture 'reflected the ambiguities and confusions of contemporary thought' (12–13). . . . This is a work of history not dramatic criticism, and . . . Black makes up for it with his richness of detail about the sights and sounds of early modern England. -- Will Tosh * Journal of British Studies *Table of ContentsPreface1. The Imagination of the Age2. The World of the Plays3. A Dynamic Country4. London 5. Narrating the Past: The History Plays6. The Narrative of Politics7. The Political Imagination8. Social Conditions, Structures, and Assumptions9. Health and Medicine10. Cultural Trends11. England and Europe12. The Wider World: Locating Prospero13. As We Like HimSelected Further ReadingIndex
£21.59
Indiana University Press Three Midwestern Playwrights How Floyd Dell
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Three Midwestern Playwrights and the Provincetown Players1. Three Midwestern Playwrights Discover the New2. Three Midwestern Playwrights Arrive in a Romantic and Miraculous City3. Floyd Dell Embraces Feminism in Port Royal4. George Cram Cook Runs for Congress in the Red City of Iowa5. Susan Glaspell Fights for Free Speech in Freeport6. Three Midwestern Playwrights Found a Theatre CompanyConclusion: Three Midwestern Playwrights Venture Beyond P-TownWorks Cited and ConsultedGeorge Cram Cook: A Classified Primary Source Bibliography compiled by Tyler PrestonSusan Glaspell: A Classified Primary Source Bibliography compiled by Tyler PrestonNotesIndex
£45.00
Indiana University Press Three Midwestern Playwrights
Book SynopsisTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Three Midwestern Playwrights and the Provincetown Players1. Three Midwestern Playwrights Discover the New2. Three Midwestern Playwrights Arrive in a Romantic and Miraculous City3. Floyd Dell Embraces Feminism in Port Royal4. George Cram Cook Runs for Congress in the Red City of Iowa5. Susan Glaspell Fights for Free Speech in Freeport6. Three Midwestern Playwrights Found a Theatre CompanyConclusion: Three Midwestern Playwrights Venture Beyond P-TownWorks Cited and ConsultedGeorge Cram Cook: A Classified Primary Source Bibliography compiled by Tyler PrestonSusan Glaspell: A Classified Primary Source Bibliography compiled by Tyler PrestonNotesIndex
£18.04
Indiana University Press New Francophone African and Caribbean Theatres
Book SynopsisStaging a new politics of performance in the African diasporaTrade ReviewAn important resource for a broad audience. . . . Highly recommended.June 2011 * Choice *[Conteh-Morgan's] readings are excellent, and his approach will be of interest to anyone studying post-colonial theatres in a global context. By grouping French-language African and Caribbean theatres together in terms of their genealogical history, and investigating their multiple theatrical influences in context, Conteh-Morgan develops a conscientious reading strategy that melds the cultural–political imperative of post-colonial studies with a respect for the limitlessness of artistic genius. * Theatre Research International *In this fascinating and exciting study, the late John Conteh-Morgan succeeded admirably in bringing to Anglophone attention a precious body of Francophone African and Caribbean theater—a rich seam for further enquiry, comparative not least. * New West Indian Guide *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface by John Conteh-Morgan and Dominic ThomasIntroduction: Instrumentalizing Performance and the Francophone Postcolonial Performative1. Cultural Trauma and Ritual Re-membering: Werewere Liking's Les mains veulent dire2. The Dramatist as Epic Performer: Eugène Dervain's Saran, ou La reine scélérate3. The Power and the Pleasures of Dramatized Narrative: Bernard Zadi Zaourou's La guerre des femmes4. Theatre as Writing and Voice: Patrick Chamoiseau's Manman Dlo contre la fée Carabosse5. Tradition Instrumentalized: Elie Stephenson's O Mayouri6. Militariat Grotesqueries and Tragic Lament: Tchicaya U Tam'si's Le destin glorieux du Maréchal Nnikon Nniku, prince qu'on sort and Le bal de Ndinga7. From the Grotesque to the Fantastic: Sony Labou Tansi's Qui a mangé Madame d'Avoine Bergotha?8. Exile and the Failure of the Nation; or, Diasporic Subjectivity from Below: Simone Schwarz-Bart's Ton beau capitaineConclusion: Francophone Theatres in the Age of GlobalizationReferencesIndex
£18.99
Indiana University Press New Francophone African and Caribbean Theatres
Book SynopsisStaging a new politics of performance in the African diasporaTrade ReviewAn important resource for a broad audience. . . . Highly recommended.June 2011 * Choice *[Conteh-Morgan's] readings are excellent, and his approach will be of interest to anyone studying post-colonial theatres in a global context. By grouping French-language African and Caribbean theatres together in terms of their genealogical history, and investigating their multiple theatrical influences in context, Conteh-Morgan develops a conscientious reading strategy that melds the cultural–political imperative of post-colonial studies with a respect for the limitlessness of artistic genius. * Theatre Research International *In this fascinating and exciting study, the late John Conteh-Morgan succeeded admirably in bringing to Anglophone attention a precious body of Francophone African and Caribbean theater—a rich seam for further enquiry, comparative not least. * New West Indian Guide *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface by John Conteh-Morgan and Dominic ThomasIntroduction: Instrumentalizing Performance and the Francophone Postcolonial Performative1. Cultural Trauma and Ritual Re-membering: Werewere Liking's Les mains veulent dire2. The Dramatist as Epic Performer: Eugène Dervain's Saran, ou La reine scélérate3. The Power and the Pleasures of Dramatized Narrative: Bernard Zadi Zaourou's La guerre des femmes4. Theatre as Writing and Voice: Patrick Chamoiseau's Manman Dlo contre la fée Carabosse5. Tradition Instrumentalized: Elie Stephenson's O Mayouri6. Militariat Grotesqueries and Tragic Lament: Tchicaya U Tam'si's Le destin glorieux du Maréchal Nnikon Nniku, prince qu'on sort and Le bal de Ndinga7. From the Grotesque to the Fantastic: Sony Labou Tansi's Qui a mangé Madame d'Avoine Bergotha?8. Exile and the Failure of the Nation; or, Diasporic Subjectivity from Below: Simone Schwarz-Bart's Ton beau capitaineConclusion: Francophone Theatres in the Age of GlobalizationReferencesIndex
£52.20
University of Notre Dame Press DeepRooted Things
Book SynopsisIn Deep-Rooted Things, Rob Doggett examines Yeats''s shifting relationship with the warring discourses of British cultural imperialism and Irish nationalism during Ireland''s transition from colony to partially independent nation. By focusing on key historical events that Yeats witnessed and on the nationalist movements he both embraced and resisted, Doggett identifies the core features of Yeats''s aesthetic program through new readings of central poems and plays in the Yeats canon.Doggett presents Yeatsian nationalism as a fluid category, a series of masks that Yeats adopted, rejected, and re-created throughout his life. He casts Yeats''s continual artistic reinventionhis privileging of contradiction over resolutionas repeated attempts to provide in art some foundations for national unity. He reveals Yeats''s deep and often conflicted response to issues of identity, history, and nationhoodissues always central to discourses of colonization, colonial resistance, and poTrade Review“According to Doggett, Yeats' nationalism reflects an imagined nation in which all 'accept a common design' without demanding a specific vision. Focusing on the first decade of the 20th century and on 1919-28, Doggett reads drama and poetry as dialectical, moving between unity and disunity, reinventing the present in light of the past. . . Doggett shows Yeats' movement from imagined exile to poems of engagement to poems informed by his visionary system. This cycle provides a space where the Irish nation can be contemplated and imagined anew." —Choice"Rob Doggett's Deep-Rooted Things is a wonderfully nuanced, deeply thoughtful study which should have a lasting place in Yeats studies. Richly responsive to the twists and turns of Yeats's thinking, profoundly revealing of the currents and crosscurrents in his magnificent oeuvre, this is a major contribution." —Jahan Ramazani, University of Virginia"Doggett defines Yeats's nationalism in a particularly effective, original, and compelling way. Yeats's nationalism is not a new topic, but many scholars have tended to see it as something that is intellectually simple, divorced from the complexities of Yeats's thought. Of those who acknowledge its complexity, few actually demonstrate this complexity at length, which is what Doggett has done." —Marjorie Howes, Associate Professor of English, Boston College and author of Yeats's Nations: Gender, Class, and Irishness
£17.99
University of Notre Dame Press Defining Acts
Book SynopsisDefining Acts considers how the surviving English theatrical works of the fifteenth century represent competing practices of interpretation. The plays take up a series of contests over who could legitimately determine the meaning of textsmen or women, clerics or laity, rulers or subjects, Christians or Jewsand transform these questions for audiences far beyond their original medieval academic contexts. Ruth Nisse focuses in particular on how theater translates the temporal ideas of textual exegesis into spatial models and politics. She situates medieval drama, therefore, both in its vernacular literary setting, as a genre composed against the same cultural background as The Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman, and The Book of Margery Kempe, and in its performances, which negotiate a range of contemporary social and political issues.Defining Acts begins with an introductory chapter that reveals the dangers and pleasures of theater in a reading ofTrade Review“. . . an absorbing work on exegetical practices in late medieval literature. . . . Defining Acts is one of the most interesting investigations into exegetical politics in early English drama to be produced in many years.” —Medium Aevum"Nisse's discussions include much of value. [O]ne cannot but be grateful for her thoughts on the problems caused by men playing women's roles and Christians playing Jews and on the issues between governing and governed classes." —Choice“Nisse's exceptional study of the political implications of interpretation both represented in, and occasioned by various dramatic enactments of religious texts offers a fascinating glimpse into not only the performance history of her dramatic texts, but also the interweaving of the great intellectual and cultural threads which produce the unique texture of the period.” —Comitatus"Defining Acts examines the ways that biblical and morality plays from later medieval England performed a 'vernacular theology' that addressed the social concerns of their diverse audiences. . . Her book explores the intersection of a religious-but not ecclesiastically controlled-drama with the multiple political and spiritual currents circulating during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; these include Wycliffite theology, female and male mysticism, Franciscan ideals, and anti-Jewish exegesis." —Speculum"In Defining Acts: Drama and the Politics of Interpretation in Late Medieval England we see the challenges and problems of theatrical exegesis played out in a theater of remarkable range and urgency. Ruth Nisse ably persuades in this thoughtful, illuminating book that, as her epigraph from Beckett's Endgame extolls, 'Ah the old questions, the old answers, there's nothing like them!' " —Studies in the Age of Chaucer"...an in-depth reflection upon surviving English theatrical works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and how they represent competing interpretations." —Midwest Book Review"Using surviving theatrical works as the medium, Defining Acts provides an analysis of how texts were interpreted in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England. ...it provides insights into the fifteenth century controversy concerning the access of the laity to scripture. Theatrical works reflected this controversy, as well as opening up the politics of interpretation in new directions." —History: Reviews of New Books"This forcefully argued and immensely detailed study makes a new case for the relationships among drama, dissent, and religion in the English fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It will be valued for its development of key ideas and motifs, its detailed working-through of textual associations and allusions, and its intuitive associations." —Seth Lerer, Stanford University"Medieval drama, itself immensely confident, subtle, and profound, meets in Ruth Nisse a scholar able to match its demands. From her pyrotechnic opening discussion of the Miller's Tale to her penetrating final chapter on Wisdom, Nisse's cultural intelligence remains unfailingly alert and illuminating. Defining Acts is itself a defining act." —James Simpson, Harvard University"This is an original, well-researched book of enormous interpretive richness and subtlety whose readings unostentatiously but tenaciously and persuasively build on and reinforce each other. It is certain to become a set text for students of medieval English drama." —Sarah Beckwith, Duke University
£70.55
University of Notre Dame Press Defining Acts
Book SynopsisDefining Acts considers how the surviving English theatrical works of the fifteenth century represent competing practices of interpretation. The plays take up a series of contests over who could legitimately determine the meaning of textsmen or women, clerics or laity, rulers or subjects, Christians or Jewsand transform these questions for audiences far beyond their original medieval academic contexts. Ruth Nisse focuses in particular on how theater translates the temporal ideas of textual exegesis into spatial models and politics. She situates medieval drama, therefore, both in its vernacular literary setting, as a genre composed against the same cultural background as The Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman, and The Book of Margery Kempe, and in its performances, which negotiate a range of contemporary social and political issues.Defining Acts begins with an introductory chapter that reveals the dangers and pleasures of theater in a reading ofTrade Review“. . . an absorbing work on exegetical practices in late medieval literature. . . . Defining Acts is one of the most interesting investigations into exegetical politics in early English drama to be produced in many years.” —Medium Aevum"Nisse's discussions include much of value. [O]ne cannot but be grateful for her thoughts on the problems caused by men playing women's roles and Christians playing Jews and on the issues between governing and governed classes." —Choice“Nisse's exceptional study of the political implications of interpretation both represented in, and occasioned by various dramatic enactments of religious texts offers a fascinating glimpse into not only the performance history of her dramatic texts, but also the interweaving of the great intellectual and cultural threads which produce the unique texture of the period.” —Comitatus"Defining Acts examines the ways that biblical and morality plays from later medieval England performed a 'vernacular theology' that addressed the social concerns of their diverse audiences. . . Her book explores the intersection of a religious-but not ecclesiastically controlled-drama with the multiple political and spiritual currents circulating during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; these include Wycliffite theology, female and male mysticism, Franciscan ideals, and anti-Jewish exegesis." —Speculum"In Defining Acts: Drama and the Politics of Interpretation in Late Medieval England we see the challenges and problems of theatrical exegesis played out in a theater of remarkable range and urgency. Ruth Nisse ably persuades in this thoughtful, illuminating book that, as her epigraph from Beckett's Endgame extolls, 'Ah the old questions, the old answers, there's nothing like them!' " —Studies in the Age of Chaucer"...an in-depth reflection upon surviving English theatrical works of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and how they represent competing interpretations." —Midwest Book Review"Using surviving theatrical works as the medium, Defining Acts provides an analysis of how texts were interpreted in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England. ...it provides insights into the fifteenth century controversy concerning the access of the laity to scripture. Theatrical works reflected this controversy, as well as opening up the politics of interpretation in new directions." —History: Reviews of New Books"This forcefully argued and immensely detailed study makes a new case for the relationships among drama, dissent, and religion in the English fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It will be valued for its development of key ideas and motifs, its detailed working-through of textual associations and allusions, and its intuitive associations." —Seth Lerer, Stanford University"Medieval drama, itself immensely confident, subtle, and profound, meets in Ruth Nisse a scholar able to match its demands. From her pyrotechnic opening discussion of the Miller's Tale to her penetrating final chapter on Wisdom, Nisse's cultural intelligence remains unfailingly alert and illuminating. Defining Acts is itself a defining act." —James Simpson, Harvard University"This is an original, well-researched book of enormous interpretive richness and subtlety whose readings unostentatiously but tenaciously and persuasively build on and reinforce each other. It is certain to become a set text for students of medieval English drama." —Sarah Beckwith, Duke University
£25.19
MR - University of Notre Dame Press Theater of the Word Selfhood in the English
Book SynopsisTheater of the Word explores the genre of the morality play that emerged in the medieval period and gives new insight into medieval drama and culture.Trade Review“An insightful and elegant approach to late medieval and early modern morality plays, ritual practice, and selfhood, this book offers a much needed study of the morality play. It is beautifully written and full of thoughtful, and sometimes brilliant, readings. It should find a ready and enthusiastic audience.”—Shannon Gayk, associate professor of English and director of the Medieval Studies Institute, Indiana University "According to Theater of the Word, English morality plays perform spectacles of penitence that fashion religious pedagogy out of a carefully crafted dramaturgy. Paulson innovatively approaches these dramas as both responses to late medieval religious debates and unlikely illustrations of Wittgenstein’s notion of the embodied, social nature of verbal meaning. Along the way, this book makes a coherent and compelling case for the construction of medieval penitential selves through the dynamic medium of theatrical performance." —Theresa Coletti, University of Maryland“In her remarkable new study, Julie Paulson turns our assumptions about the medieval morality play—as well as medieval selfhood—inside out. Taking her cue from the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell, Paulson argues that these plays depict an embodied, ritual performance of penance that produces a recognition of the self as a being created by God: a self constituted communally, rather than individually; a self whose body reveals rather than conceals the soul within. Theater of the Word crucially revises both the history of English drama and the history of the self: it will be essential reading for anyone studying medieval and Renaissance theater, literature, or history.” —Maura Nolan, University of California, Berkeley"This is a careful study, rich in readings of theology, philosophy, and literature, illustrating how the medieval Christian subject emerges from the rites and relationships that structure penance rather than from the self-scrutiny of confession. Theatre of the Word is essential reading because of its compelling articulation of the centrality of performance to medieval understandings of the self but also because it is a trenchant articulation of the tenacity of Cartesian dualism, even in medieval studies, and a call to attend to the words and worlds of human interaction." —Patricia Badir, University of British Columbia“Looking at this oft-forgotten genre of theatre, readers will learn more about medieval drama and how religious rule affected human actions and performances.” —Playbill“Paulson views the English morality play and a selection of related Reformation dramas through the lens of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language as verbally and publicly performed constitutions of selfhood. . . . The analysis that follows illustrates this new approach to morality plays and related drama.” —ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Castle of Perseverance and Penitential Platea 2. A Theater of the Soul’s Interior: Contemplative Literature and Penitential Education in Wisdom 3. Speaking for Mankind Everyman and Community 4. A New Theater of the Word: The Morality Play and the English Reformation Conclusion: Morality Drama Inside Out Works Cited
£74.70
University of Notre Dame Press Shakespeare and Religion Early Modern and
Book SynopsisShakespeare and Religion examines the topic of religion in Shakespearean drama from two points of view: the historical, and that of postmodern philosophy and theology.Trade Review"Like Beatrice Groves in Texts and Traditions, the contributors argue that nailing down Shakespeare's confessional identity is neither possible nor, in the end, productive. Instead, the collection divides between various historicisms and more 'universal' readings, many of them inspired by phenomenology, that address the functions of religion—including the term 'religion' itself—in Shakespeare and their fruitfulness for thinking about 21st-century religious culture." —Choice“The essays included in this volume reflect theoretical sophistication and serious critical and scholarly engagement, and they reveal the wide spectrum of ideas and approaches prevalent in the turn to religion in Shakespeare criticism.” —Huntington Library Quarterly“The essays in Shakespeare and Religion are admirably eclectic, both in their methodology and in their engagement with the plays and their historical context. They range from Hannibal Hamlin’s exhaustive historical discussion of the Book of Job in early modern English theological discourse and in King Lear to Julia Reinhard Lupton’s phenomenological treatment of the same Biblical allusions in Lear, Timon, Merchant of Venice and Othello, this time drawing on the philosophical work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty.” —Literature and History“Shakespeare and Religion bridges a gap within Shakespeare studies by bringing under one cover early modern and postmodern perspectives on religious experience. Its hybrid vision pushes beyond the binaries of entrenched doctrinal and scholarly positions to show that the search for community is a past and present concern, a particular and universal quest.” —Renaissance Quarterly“These discussions are impressive and valuable in that they range over a variety of different religious perspectives from the Catholic to the Calvinist and they lead to the conclusion that in his plays Shakespeare reflected a substantial accumulation of contemporary religious problems. The essays promote the view that there are many skeptical elements in Shakespeare’s religious position but that he did not come down firmly in support of a particular stance.” —Ecclesiastical History“Any scholar interested in Shakespeare, or religion, or both will find an essay or ten to pique her interest in this collection. I recommend treating this volume as an Advent calendar, devoting time to slowly savor each critical treat on its own rather than devouring it all at once. The most engrossing moments in the collection occur when, as in transubstantiation, the historical, material aspects meet spiritual, theological matters and when we can see both strands of thought functioning dialectically.” —Sixteenth Century Journal“To assume that religion necessarily requires the deconstructive gift of death is to presume . . . that all religion is Abrahamic in its character. Others might beg to differ, although to do so seems ungenerous in light of Jackson’s wonderful, generative text.” —Modern Philosophy“Shakespeare & Abraham has much to offer for scholars interested in the work of Shakespeare, particularly those interested in both Shakespeare’s religious perspective and how dramatic texts are capable of internalizing and participating in the interpretative tradition of the Bible.” —Parergon“Jackson provocatively argues that the moments when Shakespeare’s plays treat religious subject matter as strange, paradoxical, and morally challenging are not instances of secularity, but rather of genuine religious understanding.” —Religion and Literature“This book examines the work of William Shakespeare through the eyes of eleven writers. This is a book for scholars . . . intended to clarify the ways that Shakespeare and religion co-exist.” —Catholic Library World
£87.55
University of Notre Dame Press Solon and Thespis
Book SynopsisTrade Review“The recent ‘law and literature’ movement has produced several intriguing studies of the relation between these discourses and Solon and Thespis . . . [is an] exciting addition to that corpus. It suggests that fiction and the law are mutually determining. The essays collected in Solon and Thespis focus on the complicated relation of the law and the theatre in Early Modern England . . . . [The] analyses are incisive and warnings timely.” —Times Literary Supplement“. . . the introduction admirably outlines the field within which the essays examine the negotiations between law and theatre; it also pre-empts worries about randomness by foregrounding its conscious decision to represent the variety of critical negotiations addressing and extending the diversity of the interrelation.” —The Review of English Studies“Dennis Kezar's superb collection of essays Solon and Thespis: Law and Theater in the English Renaissance also interrogates the extent to which theater's 'professional deceit' can do any more than debase 'privileged truth.' Taken as a whole, this volume is the place to send both undergraduates and graduates who want to get up to speed on this fascinating field of early modern studies.” —Studies in English Literature 1500-1900“Kezar offers nine essays, plus an introduction and epilogue, which investigate connections and interactions between English law and the theater in the 16th and 17th centuries. As one might expect, half the essays deal with plays by Shakespeare and Jonson, with contributions on lesser writers such as Chapman and Sackville rounding out the collection. The essays avoid the standard legal concerns of the Renaissance theater and instead investigate more subtle connections.” —Choice“The collection explores the relation between law and drama in the plays of Shakespeare, Jonson, Marston, and others. The title of the collection comes from a meeting between Solon, an Athenian lawmaker, and Thespis, a Greek poet and actor, over whether lies in a play lead to falsehood in society. Role-playing and the relation between art and life are central in this debate.” —The Renaissance Quarterly"The diversity of topics explored in this excellent collection makes it a valuable addition to the burgeoning field of early modern law, theater, and literature studies. The essays included here touch on a wide range of material—from Dekker to Shakespeare to Chapman and Bacon; and in doing so, they explore the tensions between Solon and Thespis in such a way as to make the work of analyzing the relationship between literature and the law seem not only fruitful, but in fact essential to a deeper understanding of both." —Jeremy Lopez, University of Toronto"In this attractively titled collection of essays on law and theater in the English Renaissance, Dennis Kezar has assembled an impressive array of talent to focus on the productive and yet vexed relationship of theater and the state. Plays 'tell lies' to their audiences: so argued Solon in his riposte to Thespis, to be followed in due course by Plato's attack on poetry in the Republic and all that Jonas Barish has studied under the rubric of The Antitheatrical Prejudice. This battleground here affords a rich opportunity for an exploration of 'an institutional antagonism over the tenuous distinction between theater's inconsequential fiction and the real world's socially consequential fact.' This volume is a truly valuable contribution to the growing interest in law and literature, here brought to bear on the great drama of Shakespeare, Jonson, Dekker, Marston, Chapman, and their contemporaries." —David Bevington, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities, University of Chicago
£87.55
Pennsylvania State University Press Staging Habla de Negros
Book SynopsisAn interdisciplinary exploration of white appropriations of black African voices in Spanish theater from the 1500s through the 1700s.Trade Review“A bold intervention that contributes significantly to the ongoing expansion of early modern race studies beyond the Anglosphere.”—Noémie Ndiaye Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies“Staging Habla de Negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain is an ambitious monograph that examines the presence of the African diaspora in the Iberian Peninsula through the ‘radical performance’ of black speech, revealing a series of social, cultural and linguistic complexities that until now remained hidden due to the unfounded prejudices of more traditional criticism.”—Victor Sierra Matute Caliope“By showing how literary representations can illuminate not only the anti-black racism of white authors and audiences but also the impact and agency of black subjects in the African diaspora, Jones’s book offers an innovative framework and plants the seeds for further research on the Iberian world, demonstrating how much this field can contribute to early modern critical race studies.”—Lisa Voigt Colonial Latin American Review“A crucial intervention in discussions about black Africans in Renaissance Europe. Focusing specifically on early modern Spain, Jones offers insightful and nuanced readings of the ways in which (mostly) white Spanish writers appropriated black speech in staged performances and poetry, arguing that such appropriations actually encode black African agency. Importantly, he decenters the author and asks readers to approach these literary forms from the margin to understand how forces beyond the author influence text formation. Jones’s careful, against-the-grain readings open up to readers new archives (and re-present familiar ones from fresh, intriguing perspectives) for the study of black cultural experiences in the Renaissance era.”—Cassander L. Smith,author of Black Africans in the British Imagination: English Narratives of the Early Atlantic World“Nicholas R. Jones reveals new worlds in this exploration of the black African diaspora in early modern Iberia. Deftly combining literary analysis, performance studies, and diaspora studies, Jones demonstrates how representations of ‘black speech’ document African voices of agency, presence, and resistance as African identities were boldly formed at the heart of Iberian culture. These lively and critically imaginative arguments are destined to become standard points of reference for years to come.”—Josiah Blackmore,author of Moorings: Portuguese Expansion and the Writing of Africa“Nicholas Jones makes a necessary and nuanced argument that black folks will always hack the systems of oppression and eagerly make use of whatever agency they can acquire to subvert and chip away at anti-blackness. Jones uses the theories of Audre Lorde, Zora Neale Hurston, and Daphne Brooks to demonstrate how heretofore undertheorized characters in habla de negros texts revel in black joy through artful expressions and speech acts steeped in an Africaneity that Iberian Studies can no longer deny.”—Kinitra D. Brooks,author of Searching for Sycorax: Black Women’s Hauntings of Contemporary Horror “This compelling study offers many fresh insights into the literary reception of African-Iberian speech performance and recovers depictions that previous scholarship derided as hopelessly biased or monologic. It utilizes these depictions to read not just the formation of early modern black subjectivities but also the role they played in defining the hegemonic order under which these were crafted and codified. Jones directs critical attention to multiple stagings of subaltern performance by Blacks, Africans, and Ibero-Africans as well as their instrumental roles in the formation of early modern global empires.”—Israel Burshatin,Haverford College“Jones’s innovative comparative work makes space for dramatic resistance and plurality in our telling of imperial histories.”—Margaret E. Boyle Public Books“Staging Habla de Negros manages to create a perfect balance between an exhaustive literary analysis informed by cultural studies and black studies and a short study that connects the past with the present, highlighting the transhistorical and transnational aspects of the staging of the black race, aspects still subordinate to other interests in Golden Age studies.”—Esther Fernández Hispania“Jones encourages us to conceive of the performance and reception of habla de negros on stages as particular historical sites. Jones’s richly textured descriptions of these visual and aural feasts of Blackness will indubitably spark an important wave of scholarship that focuses on the aural landscape of habla de negros on and off stages in early modern Spain.”—Chloe Ireton H-Black Europe“In viewing habla de negros speech acts as instantiations of Bakhtinian heteroglossia, Jones’s work in Staging Habla de Negros demonstrates the destabilizing power of theatrical embodiments of Blackness by the very nature of their existence. The work this book accomplishes models that type of resistance, itself a “radical performance” of scholarship that deterritorializes paradigms in early modern Iberian theater research about the content and nature of our work.”—Harrison Meadows Early American LiteratureTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsPreface: Talking Black in SpanishAcknowledgmentsTranslating Blackness: An Editorial Note on TranslationsIntroduction: The Habla de Negros Palimpsest; Theorizing Habla de Negros1. Black Skin Acts: Feasting on Blackness, Staging Linguistic Blackface2. The Birth of Hispanic Habla de Negros: Signifying for the Black Audience in Rodrigo de Reinosa3. Black Divas, Black Feminisms: The Black Female Body and Habla de Negros in Lope de RuedaAfterword: B(l)ack to the Future; The Postmodern Legacy of Habla de Negros, or Talking in TonguesNotesBibliographyIndex
£30.56
Pennsylvania State University Press Forgiving the Gift The Philosophy of Generosity
Book Synopsis
£26.96
Penn State University The Four Shakespeare Folios 16232023
Book Synopsis
£46.71
University of Texas Press Now More Than Ever
Book SynopsisWritten in 1932–1933 just after Brave New World, Now More Than Ever is a "thinker's play" written in response to the social, economic, and political upheavals of its time.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction A Note on the Text Now More Than Ever Notes Bibliography
£15.19
MP-WIS Uni of Wisconsin The Uncensored Boris Godunov The Case for Pushkins Original Comedy with Annotated Text and Translation
Trade ReviewThe Uncensored Boris Godunov is a work of vivid and meticulous scholarly excavation which invites a radical reconsideration of the established Pushkin canon.... A collective of distinguished American and Russian researchers leads us back through the vagaries of the play's reception towards a long-buried but still glowing literary-historical treasure: the original version of Pushkin's Comedy about Tsar Boris and Grishka Otrepiev (1825), transcribed by Sergei Fomichev from the poet's manuscript, and translated into free-moving blank verse with brilliance and discerning fidelity by Antony Wood. - Rachel Polonsky, Times Literary Supplement ""Boris Godunov is the most fascinating and problematic of all Pushkin's texts. The story of The Uncensored Boris Godunov is really a kind of detective novel: why the earlier draft has not been preferred by Pushkin scholars, why perhaps it should be, and how history proper and literary history in particular have clouded the issue of what could have been the definitive text."" - David M. Bethea, Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Wisconsin - Madison
£999.99
Yale University Press The Real Shakespeare Retrieving the Early Years
Book SynopsisIn an account of the first 30 years of Shakespeare's life, Eric Sams controverts all orthodox editions, biographies and references. He reveals how the playwright's youth has been concealed within a web of literary theories which misrepresent his life and work, and his early plays.Table of ContentsPart 1 The country background: reading and writing; the family home and trades; religion, school and Latin; the early theatre; poverty; butchery and by-products; John Shakespeare's Catholic testament; Lancashire; the law clerk; Lucy and his deer; marriage and departure; theatre, work and company; the battle of the books; wits and their butts - Marlowe, Greene, Nashe, Lodge, Peele, Lyly. Appendices: allies - Harvey and Spenser; the Parnassus plays; Willobie his avisa; the sonnets; the actor-playwright of the 1590s. Part 2 Style - the noted weed: Ur Hamlet; Hamlet 1603; the taming of a shrew; the troublesome reign; contention and true tragedy; faire em and locrine; man's wit and the dialogue of dives; early start and revision; "Bad Quartos" and "Memorial Reconstruction by Actors"; "Source Plays", "Derivative Plays" and plagiarism; dating and "Collaboration"; "Stylometry"; handwriting; documents.
£17.63
Yale University Press Hamlet
Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare'sHamlet is probably the best-known and most commented upon work of literature in Western culture. The paradox is that it is at once utterly familiar and strangely elusivevery like our own selves, argues Gabriel Josipovici in this stimulating and original study. Moreover, our desire to master this elusiveness, to pluck the heart out of its mystery, as Hamlet himself says, precisely mirrors what is going on in the play; and what Shakespeare's play demonstrates is that to conceive human character (and works of art) in this way is profoundly misguided. Rather than rushing to conclusions or setting out a theory of what Hamlet is about, therefore, we should read and watch patiently and openly, allowing the play to unfold before us in its own time and trying to see each moment in the context of the whole. Josipovici's valuable book is thus an exercise in analysis which puts the physical experience of watching and reading at the heart of the critical processat once a prTrade Review“His first book on Shakespeare and it is typically original… Josipovici is such a great critic because he has a nose for the big questions and for what doesn’t work as an answer. Best of all, he reads carefully and asks the right questions.”—David Herman, Jewish Chronicle -- David Herman * Jewish Chronicle *“Full of resonant and evaluative comparisons… Josipovici’s historicism, like that of T.S Eliot whom he he quotes often, is broad-brush and confident… a careful character-based plot summary, the book does give moments of real insight.”—Bart Vanes, TLS -- Bart Vanes * TLS *
£31.56
