Overview

The Politics and Poetics of Contemporary English Tragedy is a detailed study of the idea of the tragic in the political plays of David Hare, Howard Barker, Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, Mark Ravenhill, Sarah Kane, and Jez Butterworth. Through an in-depth analysis of over sixty of their works, Sean Carney argues that their dramatic exploration of tragic experience is an integral part of their ongoing politics. This approach allows for a comprehensive rather than selective study of both the politics and poetics of their work. Carney's attention to the tragic enables him to find a common discourse among the canonical English playwrights of an older generation and representatives of the nineties generation, challenging the idea that there is a sharp generational break between these groups. Finally, Carney demonstrates that tragic experience is often denied by the social discourse of Englishness, and that these playwrights make a crucial critical intervention by dramatizing the tragic.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sean Carney
Publisher:   University of Toronto Press
Imprint:   University of Toronto Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9781442613973

ISBN 10:   1442613971
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   13 February 2013
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter One David Hare: The Work of Mourning, or, The Agony and the Ecstasy of the Bourgeoisie The Year of Magical Thinking – Teeth ‘n’ Smiles – Plenty –– The Secret Rapture – Skylight – The Judas Kiss – Amy’s View – My Zinc Bed – The Permanent Way –– The Vertical Hour – Gethsemane Chapter Two Howard Barker: Will and Desire – From the Tragedy of Socialism to the Ecstasy of the Unconscious Claw – Fair Slaughter – That Good Between Us –– The Power of the Dog – Victory – The Castle – The Europeans –– The Possibilities – Gertrude-The Cry – Dead Hands – The Seduction of Almighty God by the Boy Priest Loftus in the Abbey of Calcetto, 1539 Chapter Three Edward Bond: Tragedy and Postmodernity, or, The Promethean Impulse Saved – Lear – Bingo – The Fool –– Restoration –– The War Plays – Olly’s Prison – At the Inland Sea – Coffee– The Crime of the Twenty-First Century – Chair Chapter Four Caryl Churchill: The Dionysian Möbius Strip Seven Jewish Children – Lovesick – Abortive –– Owners – Traps –– Light Shining in Buckinghamshire – Cloud Nine – Top Girls – Fen – A Mouthful of Birds –– Lives of the Great Poisoners – The Skriker – Thyestes ––– Far Away –– A Number Chapter Five New English Tragedians: The Tragedy of the Tragic Mark Ravenhill: Shopping and Fucking – Faust is Dead – Handbag – Some Explicit Polaroids – Product – The Cut – pool (no water) – Sarah Kane: Blasted – Phaedra’s Love – Cleansed – Crave – 4.48 Psychosis Conclusion: Late Modernism in Jerusalem Works Cited Index

Reviews

'The study discusses a unique combination of English playwrights and their works and offers a valuable resource for academics, serious readers and theatergoers who appreciate contemporary English drama. Highly recommended.' -- J.S. Baggett Choice Magazine, vol 51:02:2013

Author Information

Sean Carney is an associate professor in the Department of English at McGill University.

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