A History of Modern Drama, Volume I / Edition 1

by David Krasner

Overview

Covering 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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405157575
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	11/07/2011
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David Krasner is Associate Professor at Emerson College. His publications include A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama (ed., Blackwell, 2005), American Drama, 1945-2000: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2006), and Theatre in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology (ed., Blackwell, 2008).

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Table of Contents

Preface 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