Fields of Play in Modern Drama / / Thomas R. Whitaker.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1931-1979
• VerfasserIn: Whitaker, Thomas R.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©1977
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1672
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (202 p.)

Starting from the assumption that all theater is at least implicitly participatory, Professor Whitaker approaches thirteen plays, from Ibsen's Rosmersholm to Beckett's Endgame and Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He asks the reader to commit himself to a variety of points of view-those of witnesses, actors, directors, and characters-as a series of "critical fictions" lead him toward the experience of each play in performance. The author supplies detailed readings of the plays in various modes. The styles of the chapters vary according to the issues dominant in the plays discussed, and the reader experiences simultaneously a sense of approaching the meaning of performance and of gaining a deeper understanding of the play through a subtle and allusive commentary.Originally published in 1977.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- A Retrospective Word -- One: Speaking of Playing -- Two: Playing the Player -- Three: Killing Ourselves -- Four: Seeing the Hidden -- Five: Dreaming the Music -- Six: Undoing -- Seven: Bearing Witness -- Some Texts Behind the Text -- Index