1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910963748203321

Autore

Foster Verna A. <1946-, >

Titolo

The name and nature of tragicomedy / / Verna A. Foster

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London : , : Routledge, , 2016

ISBN

1-351-88534-0

1-315-23820-9

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (230 pages)

Collana

Studies in European Cultural Transition ; ; Volume 18

Disciplina

809.2523

Soggetti

Tragicomedy - History and criticism

European drama - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

First published 2004 by Ashgate Publishing.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. The name of tragicomedy : problems of identity -- 2. Early English tragicomedy : from providential design to metatheatre -- 3. Shakespearean tragicomedy -- 4. The tragicomedy of sexuality and surprise : Beaumont and Fletcher, and Massing -- 5. Tragicomedy in transition -- 6. Modern tragicomedy I : tragicomedy and realism -- 7. Modern tragicomedy II : metatheatre and the absurd.

Sommario/riassunto

Focusing on European tragicomedy from the early modern period to the theatre of the absurd, Verna Foster here argues for the independence of tragicomedy as a genre that perceives and communicates human experience differently from the various forms of tragedy, comedy, and the drame (serious drama that is neither comic nor tragic). Foster posits that, in the sense of the dramaturgical and emotional fusion of tragic and comic elements to create a distinguishable new genre, tragicomedy has emerged only twice in the history of drama. She argues that tragicomedy first emerged and was controversial in the Renaissance; and that it has in modern times replaced tragedy itself as the most serious and moving of all dramatic genres. In the first section of the book, the author analyzes the name 'tragicomedy' and the genre's problems of identity; then goes on to explore early modern tragicomedies by Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Massinger. A transitional chapter addresses cognate genres. The final section of the book focuses on modern tragicomedies by Ibsen, Chekhov, Synge,



O'Casey, Williams, Ionesco, Beckett and Pinter. By exploring dramaturgical similarities between early modern and modern tragicomedies, Foster demonstrates the persistence of tragicomedy's generic markers and provides a more precise conceptual framework for the genre than has so far been available.