Emma Goldman's 'The Social Significance of the Modern Drama' is a groundbreaking analysis of the role that drama plays in reflecting and shaping society. Published in 1914, amidst a period of significant social and political upheaval, Goldman delves into the works of playwrights such as Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, and August Strindberg to explore how their plays challenge traditional norms and power structures. She argues that the modern drama serves as a powerful tool for social change and liberation, drawing connections between art and political activism. Goldman's writing style is passionate and incisive, drawing on her own experiences as an anarchist and feminist to provide a unique perspective on the cultural landscape of her time. Her insights continue to resonate today, making this book a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of art, politics, and social justice.
This copiously annotated bibliography documents and examines the whole range of commentary on Strindberg's works and activity in many fields besides the plays for which he is internationally best known. These include his prose fiction and poetry, his work as an historian and natural historian, and his relationship to the other arts, most notably his painting. It is concerned with both lasting works of literary and dramatic criticism, as well as reviews of his books and plays in the theatre, and some more ephemeral material, all of this in several languages. Organised generically and by subject and individual work, the bibliography enables the reader to trace the changing impact of Strindberg and his works in various countries and during different periods. It is thus very much a study in reception as well as a bibliographical record of published material. It traces the developing image of Strindberg and his writing both during his lifetime and in subsequent years, and with frequent cross reference offers a comprehensive overview of a literary and existential project that has rarely been matched for its multifaceted diversity. The bibliography is published in three parts. Volume 2, The Plays (978-0-947623-82-1) and Volume 3, Prose, Poetry, Miscellaneous (978-0-947623-83-8) are also now available. Michael Robinson is Emeritus Professor of Drama and Scandinavian Studies at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.
This book unveils the history and impact of an unprecedented anarchist awakening in early twentieth-century America. Mother Earth, an anarchist monthly published by Emma Goldman, played a key role in sparking and spreading the movement around the world. One of the most important figures in revolutionary politics in the early twentieth century, Emma Goldman (1869–1940) was essential to the rise of political anarchism in the United States and Europe. But as Rachel Hui-Chi Hsu makes clear in this book, the work of Goldman and her colleagues at the flagship magazine Mother Earth (1906–1917) resonated globally, even into the present day. As a Russian Jewish immigrant to the United States in the late nineteenth century, Goldman developed a keen voice and ideology based on labor strife and turbulent politics of the era. She ultimately was deported to Russia due to agitating against World War I. Hsu takes a comprehensive look at Goldman’s impact and legacy, tracing her work against capitalism, advocacy for feminism, and support of homosexuality and atheism. Hsu argues that Mother Earth stirred an unprecedented anarchist awakening, inspiring an antiauthoritarian spirit across social, ethnic, and cultural divides and transforming U.S. radicalism. The magazine’s broad readership—immigrant workers, native-born cultural elite, and professionals in various lines of work—was forced to reflect on society and their lives. Mother Earth spread the gospel of anarchism while opening it to diversified interpretations and practices. This anarchist awakening was more effective on personal and intellectual levels than on the collective, socioeconomic level. Hsu explores the fascinating history of Mother Earth, headquartered in New York City, and captures a clearer picture of the magazine’s influence by examining the dynamic teamwork that occurred beyond Goldman. The active support of foreign revolutionaries fostered a borderless radical network that resisted all state and corporate powers. Emma Goldman, “Mother Earth,” and the Anarchist Awakening will attract readers interested in early twentieth-century history, transnational radicalism, and cosmopolitan print culture, as well as those interested in anarchism, anti-militarism, labor activism, feminism, and Emma Goldman.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
The contributors examine varied topics such as the analysis of periodicity; the articulation of social, political, and cultural production in theatre; the re-evaluation of texts, performances, and canons; and demonstrations of how interdisciplinarity inflects theatre and its practice.
The history of drama is typically viewed as a series of inert "styles." Tracing British and American stage drama from the 1880s onward, W. B. Worthen instead sees drama as the interplay of text, stage production, and audience. How are audiences manipulated? What makes drama meaningful? Worthen identifies three rhetorical strategies that distinguish an O'Neill play from a Yeats, or these two from a Brecht. Where realistic theater relies on the "natural" qualities of the stage scene, poetic theater uses the poet's word, the text, to control performance. Modern political theater, by contrast, openly places the audience at the center of its rhetorical designs, and the drama of the postwar period is shown to develop a range of post-Brechtian practices that make the audience the subject of the play. Worthen's book deserves the attention of any literary critic or serious theatergoer interested in the relationship between modern drama and the spectator.
