Articles liés à Racine: A Theatrical Reading

Racine: A Theatrical Reading - Couverture rigide

Maskell, David

 
9780198151616: Racine: A Theatrical Reading
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 0198151616 ISBN 13 : 9780198151616
Editeur : Clarendon Press, 1991

Synopsis

This original and innovative study is the first systematic exploration of Racine's theatricality. It is based on a close examination of all Racine's plays and on evidence for performance of them from the seventeenth century to the present day. David Maskell considers, with the help of illustrations, the relationship between verbal and visual effects. He shows how the decor in plays such as Andromaque, Britannicus and Berenice is significant for the action, and indicates the rich, often symbolic implication of stage properties and physical gestures, particularly in Mithridate, Phedre, and Athalie.

Racine's usually neglected single comedy, Les Plaideurs, is shown to cast light on the theatrical language of his eleven tragedies. Some familiar topics of tragedy - moral ambiguity, error, and transcendence - emerge in a fresh light, and the concept of the tragic genre is critically examined from the theatrical standpoint.

This study challenges many long-established views of Racine and lays the foundation for a reassessment of his role in French drama. It also opens new perspectives on his relationship with dramatists writing in other languages.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Revue de presse

careful and exhaustive study ... The value of Maskell's study lies in the all-embracing picture it provides, and the wealth of evidence as to Racine's own clear preoccupations. (Richard Griffiths, Times Higher Education Supplement)

David Maskell's book constitutes a serious contribution to the recent effort amoung English critics of French literature to explore Rracine's dramaturgy and theatricality. (Ronald W. Tobin, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature)

Maskell's command of the history of theater, its criticism, and rhetorical theory of the 17th century is impressive; his exemplary exegeses of the performance text open important new avenues of investigation in the Racinian oeuvre. (E.R. Koch, Tulane University, Choice, May '92)

Racine enthusiasts will ... be grateful to David Maskell for providing them with the first systematic study of Racine's theatricality. ... its author looks meticulously and skilfully for all those clues which confirm that Racine was a man of the theatre rather than a poet who happened to write plays. ... Maskell's study is particularly valuable for the way in which it establishes comparisons with Racine's only comedy ... with the Greek tragedians... Maskell's richly suggestive, scholarly yet highly readable study should be the obligatory point de départfor all such readings. (James J. Supple, Theatre Research International)

he applies a meticulous scholarship to the recording and analysis of such effects throughout the twelve plays (W.D. Howarth, University of Warwick, MLR, 88.4, 1993)

Students of Racine's theatre will find much that is instructive and helpful in this thorough, well-documented, and systematic volume. Maskell's book contributes much to the study of Racine. (Keith Gore, Worcester College, Oxford, Notes and Queries, March 1994)

Présentation de l'éditeur

This original and innovative study is the first systematic exploration of Racine's theatricality. It is based on a close examination of all Racine's plays and on evidence for performance of them from the seventeenth century to the present day. David Maskell considers, with the help of illustrations, the relationship between verbal and visual effects. He shows how the decor in plays such as Andromaque, Britannicus and Berenice is significant for the action, and indicates the rich, often symbolic implication of stage properties and physical gestures, particularly in Mithridate, Phedre, and Athalie. Racine's usually neglected single comedy, Les Plaideurs, is shown to cast light on the theatrical language of his eleven tragedies. Some familiar topics of tragedy - moral ambiguity, error, and transcendence - emerge in a fresh light, and the concept of the tragic genre is critically examined from the theatrical standpoint. This study challenges many long-established views of Racine and lays the foundation for a reassessment of his role in French drama. It also opens new perspectives on his relationship with dramatists writing in other languages.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Clarendon Press
Date d'édition
1991
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0198151616
ISBN 13 
9780198151616
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
296
Coordonnées du fabricant
Oxford University Press
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