British Playwrights, 1880-1956

British Playwrights, 1880-1956 PDF Author: William W. Demastes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313032653
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
From 1880 to 1956, when John Osborne transformed the British theater world with Look Back in Anger, British playwrights made numerous lasting contributions and provided a foundation for the innovations of dramatists during the latter half of the 20th century. This reference profiles the life and work of some 40 British playwrights active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of whom are also known for their work as novelists and poets. Included are figures such as W. H. Auden, Max Beerbohm, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, John Galsworthy, Graham Greene, D. H. Lawrence, W. Somerset Maugham, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde. Each entry provides a biographical overview; a list of major plays and summaries of their critical reception; a list of minor plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career; and archival and bibliographical information. Included in this reference book are alphabetically arranged entries for some 40 British playwrights active from 1880 through 1956. Entries are written by expert contributors, with each entry providing a biographical overview; a list of major plays, premieres, and significant revivals, along with a summary of the critical reception of these works; a listing of additional plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career and contributions, with reference to published evaluations in magazines, journals, dissertations, and books; a listing of locations housing unpublished archival material, if available; a selected bibliography of the dramatist's published plays and of essays and articles by the playwright on aspects of the theater; a selected bibliography of secondary sources; and, when available, a listing of previously published bibliographies on the playwright.

British Playwrights, 1880-1956

British Playwrights, 1880-1956 PDF Author: William W. Demastes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313032653
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 470

Get Book Here

Book Description
From 1880 to 1956, when John Osborne transformed the British theater world with Look Back in Anger, British playwrights made numerous lasting contributions and provided a foundation for the innovations of dramatists during the latter half of the 20th century. This reference profiles the life and work of some 40 British playwrights active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of whom are also known for their work as novelists and poets. Included are figures such as W. H. Auden, Max Beerbohm, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, John Galsworthy, Graham Greene, D. H. Lawrence, W. Somerset Maugham, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde. Each entry provides a biographical overview; a list of major plays and summaries of their critical reception; a list of minor plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career; and archival and bibliographical information. Included in this reference book are alphabetically arranged entries for some 40 British playwrights active from 1880 through 1956. Entries are written by expert contributors, with each entry providing a biographical overview; a list of major plays, premieres, and significant revivals, along with a summary of the critical reception of these works; a listing of additional plays, adaptations, and productions; an assessment of the playwright's career and contributions, with reference to published evaluations in magazines, journals, dissertations, and books; a listing of locations housing unpublished archival material, if available; a selected bibliography of the dramatist's published plays and of essays and articles by the playwright on aspects of the theater; a selected bibliography of secondary sources; and, when available, a listing of previously published bibliographies on the playwright.

The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century English Literature

The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century English Literature PDF Author: Laura Marcus
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521820776
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 912

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Book Description
Publisher Description

Handbook of British Literature and Culture of the First World War

Handbook of British Literature and Culture of the First World War PDF Author: Ralf Schneider
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110422557
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 620

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Book Description
The First World War has given rise to a multifaceted cultural production like no other historical event. This handbook surveys British literature and film about the war from 1914 until today. The continuing interest in World War I highlights the interdependence of war experience, the imaginative re-creation of that experience in writing, and individual as well as collective memory. In the first part of the handbook, the major genres of war writing and film are addressed, including of course poetry and the novel, but also the short story; furthermore, it is shown how our conception of the Great War is broadened when looked at from the perspective of gender studies and post-colonial criticism. The chapters in the second part present close readings of important contributions to the literary and filmic representation of World War I in Great Britain. All in all, the contributions demonstrate how the opposing forces of focusing and canon-formation on the one hand, and broadening and revision of the canon on the other, have characterised British literature and culture of the First World War.

The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre

The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre PDF Author: Colin Chambers
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1847146120
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 892

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Book Description
International in scope, this book is designed to be the pre-eminent reference work on the English-speaking theatre in the twentieth century. Arranged alphabetically, it consists of some 2500 entries written by 280 contributors from 20 countries which include not only top-level experts, but, uniquely, leading professionals from the world of theatre. A fascinating resource for anyone interested in theatre, it includes: - Overviews of major concepts, topics and issues; - Surveys of theatre institutions, countries, and genres; - Biographical entries on key performers, playwrights, directors, designers, choreographers and composers; - Articles by leading professionals on crafts, skills and disciplines including acting, design, directing, lighting, sound and voice.

Guide to Reference in Genealogy and Biography

Guide to Reference in Genealogy and Biography PDF Author: Mary K. Mannix
Publisher: American Library Association
ISBN: 083891294X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
An excellent starting point for both reference librarians and for library users seeking information about family history and the lives of others, this resource is drawn from the authoritative database of Guide to Reference, voted Best Professional Resource Database by Library Journal readers in 2012. Biographical resources have long been of interest to researchers and general readers, and this title directs readers to the best biographical sources for all regions of the world. For interest in the lives of those not found in biographical resources, this title also serves as a guide to the most useful genealogical resources. Profiling more than 1400 print and electronic sources, this book helps connect librarians and researchers to the most relevant sources of information in genealogy and biography.

The Cambridge Companion to Tom Stoppard

The Cambridge Companion to Tom Stoppard PDF Author: Katherine E. Kelly
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139825909
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
This collection of fifteen essays offers both student and theatergoer a guide to the stage plays, novel, and screenplays of one of the most celebrated British dramatists since Noel Coward. Readers will find that the general and accessible description and analyses in these essays makes the large body of Stoppard's writing clear and approachable while preserving its rich humor. This is the first collection of essays to appear in many years addressing all of Stoppard's major work. It provides insights into the recent plays, Arcadia and Invention of Love, as well as the first extended examination of his work for screen, including a discussion of his co-authored, academy award-winning screenplay Shakespeare in Love. Photographs from key productions, a biography and chronology complete the volume and prepare the reader for future work by this extraordinary writer.

Verse Drama in England, 1900-2015

Verse Drama in England, 1900-2015 PDF Author: Irene Morra
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147258015X
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Verse Drama in England, 1900-2015 provides a critical and historical exploration of a tradition of modern dramatic creativity that has received very little scholarly attention. Exploring the emergence of a distinctly modern verse drama at the turn of the century and its development into the twenty-first, it counters common assumptions that the form is a marginal, fundamentally outdated curiosity. Through an examination of the extensive and diverse engagement of literary and theatrical writers, directors and musicians, Irene Morra identifies in modern verse drama a consistent and often prominent attempt to expand upon, revitalize, and redefine the contemporary English stage. Dramatists discussed include Stephen Phillips, Gordon Bottomley, John Masefield, James Elroy Flecker, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Ronald Duncan, Christopher Fry, John Arden, Anne Ridler, Tony Harrison, Steven Berkoff, Caryl Churchill, and Mike Bartlett. The book explores the negotiation of these dramatists with the changing position of verse drama in relation to constructions of national and communal audience, aesthetic challenge, and dramatic heritage. Key to the study is the self-conscious positioning of many of these dramatists in relation to an assumed mainstream tradition – and the various critical responses that that positioning has provoked. The study advocates for a scholarly revaluation of what must be identified as an influential and overlooked tradition of aesthetic challenge and creativity.

The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller

The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller PDF Author: C. W. E. Bigsby
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521559928
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
Arthur Miller is regarded as one of the most important playwrights of the twentieth century. His work is performed and studied around the world and this Companion provides an introduction to this influential dramatist. In addition to analyses of Miller's plays, including All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and The Crucible, his work is also placed within the context of the social and political climate of the time. The impact of the Depression, the Holocaust, and McCarthyism are explored in light of the plays, and the contributors also discuss Miller's fiction and work in film. In the last twenty years, Miller has written a host of new plays and the Companion also examines these works, including The Ride Down Mount Morgan, The Last Yankee, and Broken Glass. The volume closes with a bibliographic essay which reviews the key studies of Miller. It also contains a detailed chronology of Miller's work and illustrations from important productions.

Realism and the American Dramatic Tradition

Realism and the American Dramatic Tradition PDF Author: William W. Demastes
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817308377
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
This book reconsiders realism on the American stage by addressing the great variety and richness of the plays that form the American theatre canon.

The Bible and Modern British Drama

The Bible and Modern British Drama PDF Author: Mary F. Brewer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000691519
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
The Bible and Modern British Drama: 1930 to the Present Day is the first full-length study to explore how playwrights in the modern period have adapted popular biblical stories, such as Abraham and Isaac, Moses and the Exodus from Egypt, and the life and death of Jesus, for the stage. The book offers detailed and accessible interpretations of the work of well-known dramatists such as Christopher Fry, Howard Brenton, and Steven Berkoff, alongside the work of writers whose plays have been neglected in recent criticism, such as James Bridie and Laurence Housman. The drama is analysed within the context of changes in religious belief and practice over the course of the modern period in Britain, comparing plays that approach the Bible from a traditional religious perspective with those that offer alternative viewpoints on the text, including the voices of gay, feminist, black, Jewish, and Muslim dramatists. In doing so, the author offers a broad and in-depth exploration that is grounded in current scholarship, ranging from the past to present, across boundaries of race and gender. Ideal for students, researchers, and general readers interested in understanding how the Bible has served as an important source text for British playwrights in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, The Bible and Modern British Drama shows how Bible-based drama has been influential in creating and disseminating ideas of what constitutes a "good" life, both on an individual and social level.