Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages

Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages PDF Author: O. B. Hardison Jr.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421430878
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Originally 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 Resurrection play, Hardison suggests that the famous Quem quaeritis—the earliest of all medieval dramas—is best understood in relation to the baptismal rites of the Easter Vigil service. He sets forth a theory of the original form and function of the play based on the content of the earliest manuscripts as well as on vestigial ceremonial elements that survive in the later ones. Three texts from the eleventh and twelfth centuries are analyzed with emphasis on the change from ritual to representational modes. Hardison discusses why the form inherited from ritual remained unchanged, while the technique became increasingly representational. In studying the earliest vernacular dramas, Hardison examines the use of nonritual materials as sources of dramatic form, the influence of representational concepts of space and time on staging, and the development of nonceremonial techniques for composition of dialogue. The sudden appearance of these elements in vernacular drama suggests the existence of a hitherto unsuspected vernacular tradition considerably older than the earliest surviving vernacular plays.

Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages

Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the Middle Ages PDF Author: O. B. Hardison Jr.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421430878
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
Originally 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 Resurrection play, Hardison suggests that the famous Quem quaeritis—the earliest of all medieval dramas—is best understood in relation to the baptismal rites of the Easter Vigil service. He sets forth a theory of the original form and function of the play based on the content of the earliest manuscripts as well as on vestigial ceremonial elements that survive in the later ones. Three texts from the eleventh and twelfth centuries are analyzed with emphasis on the change from ritual to representational modes. Hardison discusses why the form inherited from ritual remained unchanged, while the technique became increasingly representational. In studying the earliest vernacular dramas, Hardison examines the use of nonritual materials as sources of dramatic form, the influence of representational concepts of space and time on staging, and the development of nonceremonial techniques for composition of dialogue. The sudden appearance of these elements in vernacular drama suggests the existence of a hitherto unsuspected vernacular tradition considerably older than the earliest surviving vernacular plays.

The Drama of the Rite

The Drama of the Rite PDF Author: Roger Grainger
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1837642206
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 125

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Book Description
Historically speaking, religious ritual and theatre appear to have evolved together. But what is the relationship between catharsis and liturgy? How liturgical is theatre, and how theatrical is liturgy? This book explores the characteristics of liturgical experience - concentration, single mindedness, intentionality, and emotional catharsis.

Tragic Rites

Tragic Rites PDF Author: Adriana E. Brook
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN: 0299313808
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
An analysis of the literary and dramatic function of ritual within the world of Sophocles' plays, for scholars of Greek tragedy, ancient theater, and poetics.

The Rite

The Rite PDF Author: Matt Baglio
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 0385522711
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The inspiration for the film starring Anthony Hopkins, journalist Matt Baglio uses the astonishing story of one American priest's training as an exorcist to reveal that the phenomena of possession, demons, the Devil, and exorcism are not merely a remnant of the archaic past, but remain a fearsome power in many people's lives even today. Father Gary Thomas was working as a parish priest in California when he was asked by his bishop to travel to Rome for training in the rite of exorcism. Though initially surprised, and slightly reluctant, he accepted this call, and enrolled in a new exorcism course at a Vatican-affiliated university, which taught him, among other things, how to distinguish between a genuine possession and mental illness. Eventually he would go on to participate in more than eighty exorcisms as an apprentice to a veteran Italian exorcist. His experiences profoundly changed the way he viewed the spiritual world, and as he moved from rational skeptic to practicing exorcist he came to understand the battle between good and evil in a whole new light. Journalist Matt Baglio had full access to Father Gary over the course of his training, and much of what he learned defies explanation. The Rite provides fascinating vignettes from the lives of exorcists and people possessed by demons, including firsthand accounts of exorcists at work casting out demons, culminating in Father Gary's own confrontations with the Devil. Baglio also traces the history of exorcism, revealing its rites and rituals, explaining what the Catholic Church really teaches about demonic possession, and delving into such related topics as the hierarchy of angels and demons, satanic cults, black masses, curses, and the various theories used by modern scientists and anthropologists who seek to quantify such phenomena. Written with an investigative eye that will captivate both skeptics and believers alike, The Rite shows that the truth about demonic possession is not only stranger than fiction, but also far more chilling.

The Drama of the Rite

The Drama of the Rite PDF Author: Roger Grainger
Publisher: ISBS
ISBN: 9781845193065
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
The Drama of the Rite brings home the dramatic identity of ritual and the religious significance of all kinds of theatre. Historically speaking, religious ritual and theatre appear to have evolved together. But what is the relationship between catharsis and liturgy? How liturgical is theatre and how theatrical is liturgy? Liturgy's purpose is dramatic; like theatre, it is a kinetic medium focusing upon the presence of the other person, whether divine or human. This book explores the characteristics of liturgical experience - concentration, single mindedness, intentionality, emotional catharsis, and, above all, the quality of encounter on which personal environment depends. It is an exploration which leads into the dramatic shape underlying both liturgy and theatre, that of the rite of passage itself. Examples are given of such rites, understood from the point of view of their theatrical nature and purpose. This involves looking at liturgical structure from a point of view which, up to now, has largely been neglected by scholars, although its relevance emerges with striking force, as the drama of the incursion of the divine into human lives. Many have spoken and written of the 'drama of religious ritual' and been content to leave it at that. Roger Grainger takes a clich ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (c) and examines the often misunderstood truth it expresses.

Ritual Theatre

Ritual Theatre PDF Author: Claire Schrader
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN: 1849051380
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
This book considers the relevance of ritual theatre in contemporary life and describes how it is being used as a highly cathartic therapeutic process. With contributions from leading experts in the field of dramatherapy, the book brings together a broad spectrum of approaches to ritual theatre as a healing system.

From Ritual to Theatre

From Ritual to Theatre PDF Author: Victor Witter Turner
Publisher: New York City : Performing Arts Journal Publications
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Turner looks beyond his routinized discipline to an anthropology of experience . . . We must admire him for this.-Times Literary Supplement

Rites of Spring

Rites of Spring PDF Author: Modris Eksteins
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307361772
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
Named "One of the 100 best books ever published in Canada" (The Literary Review of Canada), Rites of Spring is a brilliant and captivating work of cultural history from the internationally acclaimed scholar and writer Modris Eksteins. Dazzling in its originality, witty and perceptive in unearthing patterns of behavior that history has erased, Rites of Spring probes the origins, the impact and the aftermath of World War I--from the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du Printemps in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. "The Great War," Eksteins writes, "was the psychological turning point...for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places." In this extraordinary book, Eksteins goes on to chart the seismic shifts in human consciousness brought about by this great cataclysm through the lives and words of ordinary people, works of literature, and such events as Lindbergh's transatlantic flight and the publication of the first modern bestseller, All Quiet on the Western Front. Rites of Spring is a remarkable and rare work, a cultural history that redefines the way we look at our past and toward our future.

The Rite of Seeing

The Rite of Seeing PDF Author: David Shulman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789355720382
Category : Kūḍiyāṭṭam
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Kūṭiyāṭṭam, the only surviving live Sanskrit theatre in the world, was defined by UNESCO as 'a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity'. Full performances-almost always a single act taken from a multi-act Sanskrit play-range from 12 to 150 hours (in daily or nightly segments of several hours each) and display an aesthetic brilliance and dizzying complexity that are almost beyond description. Each such act constitutes an artistic whole with its own conceptual and thematic unity. The Rite of Seeing reflects the work of the Hebrew University Kūṭiyāṭṭam team and of our colleagues from Tübingen, Paris, Groningen, and elsewhere, over many years of annual pilgrimages to Kerala to watch and study this art in action. It offers interpretations of seven classical performances in the light of the actors' traditional handbooks (Āṭṭaprakāram), the Sanskrit base text, and the artists' oral commentary that emerged naturally in the course of many days of attentive viewing. The essays are accompanied by links to extended performance moments, so that readers can see with their own eyes something of what we have seen in Mūḻikkuḷam and Kiḷḷimaṅgalam. Interpretative essays of this kind, although plentiful in studies of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Chekhov, have never been attempted for Kūṭiyāṭṭam. The book is thus meant to introduce Kūṭiyāṭṭam to new audiences and to offer pathways for beginning to explore the riches of this unique and still vital tradition.

Rite out of Place

Rite out of Place PDF Author: Ronald L. Grimes
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190207809
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Much ritual studies scholarship still focuses on central religious rites. For this reason, Grimes argues, dominant theories, like the data they consider, remain stubbornly conservative. This book issues a challenge to these theories and to popular conceptions of ritual. Rite Out of Place collects 10 revised essays originally published in widely varied sources across the past five years. Grimes has selected for inclusion those essays that track ritual as it haunts the edges of cultural boundaries-ritual converging with theater, ritual on television, ritual at the edge of natural environments and so on. The writing is non-technical, and the implied audience is sufficiently broad than any educated person interested in religion and public life should find it intelligible and engaging.