Feminism In Modern English Drama Explores The Emergence Of The New Woman In The Plays Of Bernard Shaw, Galsworthy And Granville Barker And How Their Dominating Role Revolutionized The Modern Drama. The Emphasis Shifted From The Male Protagonist To The Unwomanly Woman Who Is Shown More As A Product Of Social, Economic And Political Interactions Than Individual Creation.The Focus Is On The Early And Middle Plays Of Bernard Shaw And The Influence Of Ibsen S Plays Has Been Given Their Rightful Place. Most Of Shaw S Major Plays From Widowers Houses To Pygmalion, Come Under The Purview Of The Book, While The Plays Of Contemporaries Like Pinero, Jones And Oscar Wilde Have Been Discussed To Highlight The Contrast.More Interesting Are The Unknown Assertive Heroines Of Galsworthy S Middle And Late Plays From The Eldest Son And The Fugitive To The Skin Game. His Women Characters Remain In Oblivion Because Hardly Any Scholar Has Bothered To Study Them. Though Granville Barker Is Well-Known As A Critic And Director Of Shakespeare S Plays, His Own Plays With The New Woman As Heroine Still Remain Little Known In The Academic Circle. In The Conclusion The Bearing Of This Early Feminism Is Shown On The Feminist Playwrights Like Caryl Churchill, Pam Gems Et Al. Of The 1980S.It Is Hoped That The Present Book Will Prove An Asset To Those Who Have Keen Interest In English Drama. In Addition, The Students, Researchers And Teachers Of English Literature Will Find It An Ideal Reference Book.
Challenges conventional views of the Edwardian period as either a hangover of Victorianism or a bystander to literary modernismIn this ground-breaking study, Jonathan Wild investigates the literary history of the Edwardian decade. This period, long overlooked by critics, is revealed as a vibrant cultural era whose writers were determined to break away from the stifling influence of preceding Victorianism. In the hands of this generation, which included writers such as Arnold Bennett, Joseph Conrad, E. M. Forster, Beatrix Potter, and H.G. Wells, the new century presented a unique opportunity to fashion innovative books for fresh audiences. Wild traces this literary innovation by conceptualising the focal points of his study as branches of one of the new department stores that epitomized Edwardian modernity.a These adepartments war and imperialism, the rise of the lower middle class, childrens literature, technology and decadence, and the condition of England offer both discrete and interconnected ways in which to understand the distinctiveness and importance of the Edwardian literary scene. Overall, The Great Edwardian Emporium offers a long-overdue investigation into a decade of literature that provided the cultural foundation for the coming century.
The idea of staging a nation dates from the Enlightenment, but the full force of the idea emerges only with the rise of mass politics. Comparing English, French, and American attempts to establish national theatres at moments of political crisis—from the challenge of socialism in late nineteenth-century Europe to the struggle to "salvage democracy" in Depression America—Kruger poses a fundamental question: in the formation of nationhood, is the citizen-audience spectator or participant? The National Stage answers this question by tracing the relation between theatre institution and public sphere in the discourses of national identity in Britain, France, and the United States. Exploring the boundaries between history and theory, text and performance, this book speaks to theatre and social historians as well as those interested in the theoretical range of cultural studies.
Acts of Desire is a study of theatrical depictions of illicit female sexuality, from seduction and prostitution to bigamy and adultery, from the beginning of the nineteenth century through to the 1930s.
The Heinemann Plays series offers contemporary drama and classic plays in durable classroom editions. Many have large casts and an equal mix of boy and girl parts. Hobson's Choice is a comedy based around the battle of wills between a hard-headed cobbler and his defiant daughter.
This book looks at modes of performance and forms of theatre in Nineteenth-century Britain and Ireland. On subjects as varied as the vogue for fairy plays to the representation of economics to the work of a parliamentary committee in regulating theatres, the authors redefine what theatre and performance in the Nineteenth century might be.
This book discusses John Galsworthy’s compassion for people and animals, in his fiction, non-fiction and drama. Initial chapters explore compassion in The Forsyte Saga and The Modern Comedy, and his parents’ influence. Other chapters examine his works helping prison reform, men and children disabled during the First World War, and people whose relatives were interned as war-time alien enemies. Two chapters focus on slum clearance and labour unrest during the twentieth century’s first three decades. Another two concentrate on animal welfare and vivisection. The final chapter attempts to appraise Galsworthy as a writer by looking at what commentators past and present have said, and at what constitutes literature.