Overview

Michael McAteer examines the plays of W. B. Yeats, considering their place in European theatre during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This original study considers the relationship Yeats's work bore with those of the foremost dramatists of the period, drawing comparisons with Henrik Ibsen, Maurice Maeterlinck, August Strindberg, Luigi Pirandello and Ernst Toller. It also shows how his plays addressed developments in theatre at the time, with regard to the Naturalist, Symbolist, Surrealist and Expressionist movements, and how symbolism identified Yeats's ideas concerning labour, commerce and social alienation. This book is invaluable to graduates and academics studying Yeats but also provides a fascinating account for those in Irish studies and in the wider field of drama.

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9781108798488

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Reviews

'McAteer's book makes a compelling case for the relevance of the plays today.' Irish News 'McAteer skilfully balances close reading with broad contextual analysis and provides a fresh and provocative assessment of Yeats's relationship to some of the major dramatic movements of his time, particularly naturalism, surrealism, and absurdism.' Modern Drama 'Yeats and European Drama offers a strong reading of Yeats's lifelong engagement with the theater as a crucial dimension of his political thinking, showing how Morris's socialism leads Yeats to confront the processes of commodification that appear in public rhetoric and popular arts as well as in industrial working conditions. Mediated by Morris, Ibsen's revolutionary critcisms of the compact majority and their institutional power become a much more significant factor in Yeats's early ecounters with symbolist drama than is usually appreciated'. Modernism/Modernity 'McAteer offers the reader a new and exciting insight into Yeats's drama which will be invaluable for years to come.' Irish Studies Review 'McAteer is careful to trace lines of influence backwards as well as forward, as well as nationally and internationally, so that we find comparisons not only with Strindberg, Ibsen and French Symbolism, but also with Irish models (Synge in particular). More vitally, we are shown how Yeats's dramas, initially forbiddingly individualistic, might actually provide models for other writers: McAteer's work on Yeats's influence on Beckett is particularly intriguing in this light.' Tara Stubbs, Yeats Annual 'Michael McAteer's Yeats and European Drama is a comprehensive guidebook to many of Yeats's plays ... McAteer makes great efforts to link Yeats with the European and Scandinavian writers: his research ranges far and wide, including Henrik Ibsen, Maurice Maeterlinck, August Strinberg, Luigi Pirandello, Ernst Toller.' Young Suck Rhee, The Yeats Journal of Korea 'It is a long time since there was a critical work on Yeats's theatre and even longer since there was one as impressive and intellectually commanding as Michael McAteer's Yeats and European Drama.' Anthony Roche, Irish University Review

'McAteer's book makes a compelling case for the relevance of the plays today.' Irish News 'McAteer skilfully balances close reading with broad contextual analysis and provides a fresh and provocative assessment of Yeats's relationship to some of the major dramatic movements of his time, particularly naturalism, surrealism, and absurdism.' Modern Drama 'Yeats and European Drama offers a strong reading of Yeats's lifelong engagement with the theater as a crucial dimension of his political thinking, showing how Morris's socialism leads Yeats to confront the processes of commodification that appear in public rhetoric and popular arts as well as in industrial working conditions. Mediated by Morris, Ibsen's revolutionary critcisms of the compact majority and their institutional power become a much more significant factor in Yeats's early ecounters with symbolist drama than is usually appreciated'. Modernism/Modernity 'McAteer offers the reader a new and exciting insight into Yeats's drama which will be invaluable for years to come.' Irish Studies Review 'McAteer is careful to trace lines of influence backwards as well as forward, as well as nationally and internationally, so that we find comparisons not only with Strindberg, Ibsen and French Symbolism, but also with Irish models (Synge in particular). More vitally, we are shown how Yeats's dramas, initially forbiddingly individualistic, might actually provide models for other writers: McAteer's work on Yeats's influence on Beckett is particularly intriguing in this light.' Tara Stubbs, Yeats Annual 'Michael McAteer's Yeats and European Drama is a comprehensive guidebook to many of Yeats's plays ... McAteer makes great efforts to link Yeats with the European and Scandinavian writers: his research ranges far and wide, including Henrik Ibsen, Maurice Maeterlinck, August Strinberg, Luigi Pirandello, Ernst Toller.' Young Suck Rhee, The Yeats Journal of Korea 'It is a long time since there was a critical work on Yeats's theatre and even longer since there was one as impressive and intellectually commanding as Michael McAteer's Yeats and European Drama.' Anthony Roche, Irish University Review McAteer is careful to trace lines of influence backwards as well as forward, as well as nationally and internationally, so that we find comparisons not only with Strindberg, Ibsen and French Symbolism, but also with Irish models (Synge in particular). More vitally, we are shown how Yeats's dramas, initially forbiddingly individualistic, might actually provide models for other writers: McAteer's work on Yeats's influence on Beckett is particularly intriguing in this light. Tara Stubbs, Yeats Annual Michael McAteer's Yeats and European Drama is a comprehensive guidebook to many of Yeats's plays ... McAteer makes great efforts to link Yeats with the European and Scandinavian writers: his research ranges far and wide, including Henrik Ibsen, Maurice Maeterlinck, August Strinberg, Luigi Pirandello, Ernst Toller. Young Suck Rhee, The Yeats Journal of Korea It is a long time since there was a critical work on Yeats's theatre and even longer since there was one as impressive and intellectually commanding as Michael McAteer's Yeats and European Drama. Anthony Roche, Irish University Review

Author Information

Michael McAteer is a lecturer at the School of English, Queen's University Belfast.

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