Description
Book SynopsisCovering the period 1879 to 1959, and taking in everything from Ibsen to Beckett, this book is volume one of a two-part comprehensive examination of the plays, dramatists, and movements that comprise modern world drama.
- Contains detailed analysis of plays and playwrights, connecting themes and offering original interpretations
- Includes coverage of non-English works and traditions to create a global view of modern drama
- Considers the influence of modernism in art, music, literature, architecture, society, and politics on the formation of modern dramatic literature
- Takes an interpretative and analytical approach to modern dramatic texts rather than focusing on production history
- Includes coverage of the ways in which staging practices, design concepts, and acting styles informed the construction of the dramas
Trade Review“Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.” (Choice, 1 November 2012)
“In his comprehensive History of Modern Drama (the first of two volumes, running up to 1959), David Krasner cites Roland Barthes writing about Baudelaire, and responding to this question with his own answer.” (Times Literary Supplement, 4 May 2012)
Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Part I: Trauma Drama 33
Chapter 2 The Price of Freedom 39
Chapter 3 Unhinged Subjectivity 80
Chapter 4 Aboulia 109
Part II: Modernist Beginnings 137
Chapter 5 Rising Symbolism 145
Chapter 6 Rising Expressionism 158
Part III: Realism 167
Chapter 7 Rural Realism 171
Chapter 8 Urban Realism 178
Chapter 9 Optimistic Passion 182
Chapter 10 The Campaign Against Earnestness 189
Part IV: Dissociated Sensibility 193
Chapter 11 Distorted Modernism 195
Chapter 12 Lyrical Modernism 203
Chapter 13 Sentimental Modernism 210
Part V: Avant Garde 215
Chapter 14 Eros and Thanatos 217
Chapter 15 Robots and Automatons 226
Chapter 16 Farce and Parody 229
Part VI: Epic Modernism 235
Chapter 17 Gaming the System 237
Part VII: The Divided Self of American Drama 259
Chapter 18 Illusions 265
Chapter 19 Delusions 275
Chapter 20 Dreams 281
Chapter 21 Gender 289
Chapter 22 Race 293
Part VIII: Hell Is Other People 301
Chapter 23 The Farce of Intimacy 307
Chapter 24 The Tragedy of Intimacy 315
Part IX: Modernist Improvising 325
Chapter 25 Beckett Impromptu 327
Part X: Conclusion 349
Notes 351
Index 389
