Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1965. The European dramatic tradition rests on a group of religious dramas that appeared between the tenth and twelfth centuries. These dramas, of interest in themselves, are also important for the light they shed on three historical and critical problems: the relation of drama to ritual, the nature of dramatic form, and the development of representational techniques. Hardison's approach is based on the history of the Christian liturgy, on critical theories concerning the kinship of ritual and drama, and on close analysis of the chronology and content of the texts themselves. Beginning with liturgical commentaries of the ninth century, Hardison shows that writers of the period consciously interpreted the Mass and cycle of the church year in dramatic terms. By reconstructing the services themselves, he shows that they had an emphatic dramatic structure that reached its climax with the celebration of the Resurrection. Turning to the history of the Latin Resurrecti
Table of ContentsPreface
Chapter 1. Darwin, Mutations, and the Origin of Medieval Drama
Chapter 2. The Mass as Sacred Drama
Chapter 3. The Lenten Agon: From Septuagesima to Good Friday
Chapter 4. Christus Victor: From Holy Saturday to Low Sunday
Chapter 5. The Early History of The Quem Quaeritis
Chapter 6. From Quem Quaeritis to Resurrection PLay
Chapter 7. The Vernacular Tradition: Form, Episode, Dialogue
Epilogue. A Note on the Continuity of Ritual Form in European Drama
Appendix I: Translations
Appendix II: Chronological Index of Early Liturgical Plays
Index
