Stage Fright

Modernism, Anti-Theatricality, and Drama

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Theatre, Performing Arts
Cover of the book Stage Fright by Martin Puchner, Johns Hopkins University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Martin Puchner ISBN: 9780801877766
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press Publication: December 15, 2009
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Martin Puchner
ISBN: 9780801877766
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication: December 15, 2009
Imprint:
Language: English

Grounded equally in discussions of theater history, literary genre, and theory, Martin Puchner's Stage Fright: Modernism, Anti-Theatricality, and Drama explores the conflict between avant-garde theater and modernism. While the avant-garde celebrated all things theatrical, a dominant strain of modernism tended to define itself against the theater, valuing lyric poetry and the novel instead. Defenders of the theater dismiss modernism's aversion to the stage and its mimicking actors as one more form of the old "anti-theatrical" prejudice. But Puchner shows that modernism's ambivalence about the theater was shared even by playwrights and directors and thus was a productive force responsible for some of the greatest achievements in dramatic literature and theater.

A reaction to the aggressive theatricality of Wagner and his followers, the modernist backlash against the theater led to the peculiar genre of the closet drama—a theatrical piece intended to be read rather than staged—whose long-overlooked significance Puchner traces from the theatrical texts of Mallarmé and Stein to the dramatic "Circe" chapter of Joyce's Ulysses. At times, then, the anti-theatrical impulse leads to a withdrawal from the theater. At other times, however, it returns to the stage, when Yeats blends lyric poetry with Japanese Nôh dancers, when Brecht controls the stage with novelistic techniques, and when Beckett buries his actors in barrels and behind obsessive stage directions. The modernist theater thus owes much to the closet drama whose literary strategies it blends with a new mise en scène. While offering an alternative history of modernist theater and literature, Puchner also provides a new account of the contradictory forces within modernism.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Grounded equally in discussions of theater history, literary genre, and theory, Martin Puchner's Stage Fright: Modernism, Anti-Theatricality, and Drama explores the conflict between avant-garde theater and modernism. While the avant-garde celebrated all things theatrical, a dominant strain of modernism tended to define itself against the theater, valuing lyric poetry and the novel instead. Defenders of the theater dismiss modernism's aversion to the stage and its mimicking actors as one more form of the old "anti-theatrical" prejudice. But Puchner shows that modernism's ambivalence about the theater was shared even by playwrights and directors and thus was a productive force responsible for some of the greatest achievements in dramatic literature and theater.

A reaction to the aggressive theatricality of Wagner and his followers, the modernist backlash against the theater led to the peculiar genre of the closet drama—a theatrical piece intended to be read rather than staged—whose long-overlooked significance Puchner traces from the theatrical texts of Mallarmé and Stein to the dramatic "Circe" chapter of Joyce's Ulysses. At times, then, the anti-theatrical impulse leads to a withdrawal from the theater. At other times, however, it returns to the stage, when Yeats blends lyric poetry with Japanese Nôh dancers, when Brecht controls the stage with novelistic techniques, and when Beckett buries his actors in barrels and behind obsessive stage directions. The modernist theater thus owes much to the closet drama whose literary strategies it blends with a new mise en scène. While offering an alternative history of modernist theater and literature, Puchner also provides a new account of the contradictory forces within modernism.

More books from Johns Hopkins University Press

Cover of the book Introduction to Abstract Algebra by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Hubs of Empire by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book The Sting of the Wild by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Democracy's Double-Edged Sword by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Victorian Literature and the Victorian State by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Professors in the Gig Economy by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book From Front Porch to Back Seat by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Hike Maryland by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Back on Track by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Public Health for an Aging Society by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Calculus in Context by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Performing the Temple of Liberty by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Introduction to Biosocial Medicine by Martin Puchner
Cover of the book Making Tobacco Bright by Martin Puchner
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy