English Stage Comedy 1490-1990

ISBN-13: 9780415189378 / Angielski / Miękka / 1998 / 192 str.

Alexander Leggatt

Opis

A study of the comedy of the English stage from the Tudor period to the late 20th-century. It shows how this enduring genre has dealt with the tensions of social life, using its conventions as tools for social inquiry. Through an examination of comedy, Alexander Leggatt demonstrates that an approach through genre, neglected in recent criticism, can have much to say about our current concerns with the relations between literature and society. The book surveys five centuries of classic comic drama, focusing on major playwrights such as: Shakespeare; Jonson; Etherege; Wycherley; Congreve; Vanburgh; Goldsmith; Sheridan; Wilde; Shaw; Coward; Orton and Ayckbourn.

Spis treści

Introduction: Five centuries of a genre, 1 Getting control, 2 Watching society, 3 Loners, 4 Other places, 5 Parents and children, 6 Negotiations, 7 Comedy against itself, Conclusion

O autorze

Alexander Leggatt is Professor of English at University College, University of Toronto, and is the author of Shakespeare’s Political Drama (1988, Routledge) and Jacobean Public Theatre (1992, Routledge).