Clowns, fools and picaros : : popular forms in theatre, fiction and film / / edited by David Robb.

• Superior document: At the interface, probing the boundaries ; 43
• TeilnehmendeR: Robb, David, 1962-
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: At the interface/probing the boundaries ; v. 43.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (240 p.)
• Notes: Based on papers from a conference held at the Queen's University of Belfast in September 4-6, 2003.

By its very nature the clown, as represented in art, is an interdisciplinary phenomenon. In whichever artform it appears – fiction, drama, film, photography or fine art – it carries the symbolic association of its usage in popular culture, be it ritual festivities, street theatre or circus. The clown, like its extended family of fools, jesters, picaros and tricksters, has a variety of functions all focussed around its status and image of being “other.” Frequently a marginalized figure, it provides the foil for the shortcomings of dominant discourse or the absurdities of human behaviour. Clowns, Fools and Picaros represents the latest research on the clown, bringing together for the first time studies from four continents: Europe, America, Africa and Asia. It attempts to ascertain commonalities, overlaps and differences between artistic expressions of the “clownesque” from these various continents and genres, and above all, to examine the role of the clown in our cultures today. This volume is of interest for scholars of political and comic drama, film and visual art as well as scholars of comparative literature and anthropology.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction / David Robb -- Where The Antic Sits / Robert Cheesmond -- Modern Tragicomedy and the Fool / Faye Ran -- The Postmodern Theatre Clown / Ashley Tobias -- Nietzsche and the Praise of Masks / Rüdiger Görner -- Clowning Around at the Limits of Representation: On Fools, Fetishes and Bruce Nauman’s Clown Torture / Maxim Leonid Weintraub -- An American Circus: the Lynch Victim as Clown / Barbara Lewis -- The Court Jester in Nigerian Drama / Kayode Gboyega Kofoworola -- “Fratello Arlecchino”: Clowns, Kings, and Bombs in Bali / Ron Jenkins -- Scaramouche: The Mask and the Millenium. / Stephen Knapper -- The Cinema of Masks: Commedia dell’Arte and Jean Renoir’s The Golden Coach / Des O’Rawe -- From Nestroy to Wenzel and Mensching: carnivalesque revolutionaries in the German and Austrian theatrical tradition / David Robb -- Karolos Koun, Karaghiozis and The Birds: Aristophanes as Popular Theatre / Marina Kotzamani -- The Clown as Social Critic: Kerouac’s Vision / Stephen Llano -- Picaresque Narratology: Lazarillo de Tormes and Edgar Hilsenrath’s Der Nazi und der Friseur / Bernhard Malkmus -- Notes on Contributors.