This is a digital reprint of Mme de Mourgues' critical introduction to the work of Racine for the student and the general reader. It concentrates entirely on the plays themselves, and attempts to say what they are and how they work on the mind of the spectator or reader. Mme de Mourgues' main point is admirably expressed in her title. Everything in Racine's plays is directed to a single end: the heightening of the feeling of tragic conflict. The separable literary or dramatic conventions have no importance in themselves - their only claim on the attention is their function in the drama, their...

This 1977 study of Chekhov examines his development and achievement as prose-writer and dramatist. Beverly Hahn draws attention to the range and depth of Chekhov's imagination, disputing any limited conception of him as a 'poet of twilight Russia'. By looking in detail at a number of the longer stories as well as at Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, she makes a strong case for viewing Chekhov as a humanist one actively interested in modern European theories and ideas, but finally committed to respecting and celebrating the unpredictability and variety of human lives. She also explores...

This 1976 volume originated in the mood of disillusion and despair which followed the Third United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Santiago in 1972. The prospects for cooperation between rich and poor nations seemed poor and new policies and instruments needed to considered if the interests of the rich and poor nations were not to become even more unbalanced in favour of the rich. The contributors to this volume consider what unexploited possibilities might be open to the less developed countries, both jointly and individually, in international affairs, which would generate a...