The Trickeries of Scapin

The Trickeries of Scapin
Author: Molière
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
Total Pages: 74
Release: 1989
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780822211730

THE STORY: While Argante and Geronte, two domineering, miserly fathers, are away on affairs of business, their respective sons, Octave and Leandre, become embroiled in romantic escapades, despite the vigilance of their servants, who are supposed to

Comedy

Comedy
Author: Eli Rozik
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2011-08-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1782847278

While assimilating theoretical insights from Aristotle to this day, this title contests, inter alia, the theory of comedy's ritual origin; challenges the age-old and continuing attempts to determine the structure of action that characterises comedy; and, suggests instead that structures of action are shared by all genres.

Dps

Dps
Author:
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
Total Pages: 76
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 9780822227175

Ahmed the Philosopher

Ahmed the Philosopher
Author: Alain Badiou
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2014-04-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0231166931

English-speaking readers might be surprised to learn that Alain Badiou writes fiction and plays along with his philosophical works and that they are just as important to understanding his larger intellectual project. In Ahmed the Philosopher, BadiouÕs most entertaining and accessible play, translated into English here for the first time, readers are introduced to BadiouÕs philosophy through a theatrical tour de force that has met with much success in France. Ahmed the Philosopher presents its comic hero, the Òtreacherous servantÓ Ahmed, as a seductively trenchant philosopher even as it casts philosophy itself as a comic performance. The comedy unfolds as a series of lessons, with each Òshort playÓ or sketch illuminating a different Badiousian concept. Yet Ahmed does more than illustrate philosophical abstractions; he embodies and vivifies the theatrical and performative aspects of philosophy, mobilizing a comic energy that exposes the emptiness and pomp of the world. Through his example, the audience is moved to a living engagement with philosophy, discovering in it the power to break through the limits of everyday life.

The Fiction of Julian Barnes

The Fiction of Julian Barnes
Author: Vanessa Guignery
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2006-01-23
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0230802214

Julian Barnes's work has been marked by great variety, ranging not only from conventional fiction to postmodernist experimentation in such well-known novels as Flaubert's Parrot (1984) and A History of the World in 10 1⁄2 Chapters (1989), but also from witty essays to deeply touching short stories. The responses of readers and critics have likewise varied, from enthusiasm to scepticism, as the substantial volume of critical analysis demonstrates. This Readers' Guide provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of the essential criticism on Barnes's work, drawing from a selection of reviews, interviews, essays and books. Through the presentation and assessment of key critical interpretations, Vanessa Guignery provides the most wide-ranging examination of his fiction and non-fiction so far, considering key issues such as his use of language, his treatment of history, obsession, love, and the relationship between fact and fiction. Covering all of the novels to date, from Metroland (1981) to Arthur and George (2005), this is an invaluable introduction to the work of one of Britain's most exciting and popular contemporary writers.

A Companion to the Classical Tradition

A Companion to the Classical Tradition
Author: Craig W. Kallendorf
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1405172029

A Companion to the Classical Tradition accommodates the pressing need for an up-to-date introduction and overview of the growing field of reception studies. A comprehensive introduction and overview of the classical tradition - the interpretation of classical texts in later centuries Comprises 26 newly commissioned essays from an international team of experts Divided into three sections: a chronological survey, a geographical survey, and a section illustrating the connections between the classical tradition and contemporary theory

Theatre Sciences

Theatre Sciences
Author: Eli Rozik
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 547
Release: 2015-06-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1836242298

Traditional theatre semiotics promoted a scientific approach to theatre studies, albeit viewing semiotics as the unique discipline of research. Theatre Sciences: A Plea for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Theatre Studies suggests instead a multi-disciplinary approach, including the following theoretical disciplines: narratology, mythology, pragmatics, ethics, theatre irony, theory of genres, aesthetics, semiotics, theory of non-verbal figures of speech, rhetoric, psychoanalysis, reception theory, history, and sociology -- with semiotics being only one among equals. These disciplines are presented from the perspective of their possible contributions to a sound methodology of theatre-texts analysis. Traditional theatre semiotics, moreover, holds the view that the actual performance on stage is the genuine text of theatre, instead of the play-script. Despite this paradigmatic shift, however, this viewpoint has failed to produce commendable analyses of such texts. The alternative presupposition put forward in this volume entails a series of novel perceptions of the theatre-text and its possible impact on the experiencing spectator, whose role in reading, interpreting and experiencing the theatre-text is not less crucial than that of the text itself. This view presupposes that the theatre-text is a description of a fictional world generated by the theatre medium. The author also contests the age-old view that a theatre/fictional-text reflects a simple narrative structure, and suggests instead a complexity that consists of seven layers: personified, mythical, praxical, naive, ironic, modal and aesthetic -- with each one of them re-structuring the previous layer. Professor Rozik also presents and describes a semiotic layer that lends communicative capacity to the description of a fictional world, and two additional metaphoric and rhetoric layers, which structure the theatre experience. The underlying purpose is to illustrate the application of the aforementioned disciplines to these fictional layers, and eventually their joint application to entire theatre / fictional texts. Organisation of the book reflects the structure of a university course.

Fog on the Mountain

Fog on the Mountain
Author: Tim Kelly
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
Total Pages: 28
Release: 1990
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780822204121

The Widow Claire

The Widow Claire
Author: Horton Foote
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Total Pages: 68
Release: 1987
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 9780822212539

THE STORY: After returning to Harrison, Texas, from his disastrous visit with his mother and sister (and his new stepfather) in Houston, Horace Robedaux has moved into a local boarding house prior to returning to Houston to take a six week business

Better Days

Better Days
Author: Reynolds Price
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
Total Pages: 76
Release: 1990
Genre: Families
ISBN: 9780822201113

THE STORY: BETTER DAYS takes place in 1974, the day of Roma Avery's funeral. Neal and Taw have moved to Roma's house to care for her in her final illness. Porter has come home on leave from the Navy. Neal and Taw's son, Cody, now a captain in the M