Theater of the Avant-Garde, 1890-1950: A Critical Anthology [Paperback]

Professor Bert Cardullo (Editor), Robert Knopf (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300085265 | ISBN-13: 978-0300085266 | Publication Date: April 1, 2001

This critical anthology of avant-garde drama offers comprehensive coverage of that distinctively twentieth-century tradition. It includes the full texts of sixteen important plays, each preceded by a historical-critical introduction and followed by an essay, often written by the playwright, that elaborates on the dramatic and aesthetic issues raised by the play. Cardullo and Knopf, in making plays and documents of the avant-garde available in one collection for the first time, underscore the place and importance of the movement. In a provocative general introduction to the book, Bert Cardullo traces the history of the avant-garde tradition and argues for a revisionist history of modern drama that would acknowledge the innovative contributions of the avant-garde. The anthology, which presents examples of French and Russian Symbolism, Italian Futurism, German Expressionism, and Dada-Surrealism, as well as work by such seminal figures as Jarry, Strindberg, Artaud, and Kandinsky, illuminates the astonishing daring of these writers from many Western countries and diverse theatrical movements.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Cardullo (theater and drama, Univ. of Michigan) and Knopf (theater, Connecticut Coll.) have compiled an important anthology of the now-classic drama widely known as avant-garde. The many styles and movements represented here were mined, in the words of Cardullo, to "bring genuine dramatic Expressionism into central focus." Inexplicably, the writings of major avant-garde figures are long out of print or remain untranslated. In addition to the complete text of plays by Antonin Artaud, Gertrude Stein, August Strindberg, and Alfred Jarry, the editors have included such lesser-known but equally influential writers as Roger Virac, Filippo Marinetti, and Aleksandr Vvedensky. While making a case for new inclusions, Cardullo accepts the standard, and most useful, designations for what constitutes a Dada piece vs. an Absurd or Futurist one and uses the terms avant-garde and modernist synonymously. However, a more thorough exploration of the "classic" avant-garde's impact on today's theater would have been a welcome addition to the introductory essay. Indeed, Cardullo makes no effort to mask his disdain for most "performance art," complaining that "the avant-garde can today do little more than impotently express disenchantment with its own ideals." Still, the comprehensive and varied nature of these works and the accompanying illuminating essays will make this a standard text for any serious study of 20th-century drama. Douglas McClemont, New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Editors Cardullo and Knopf pack this volume with avant-garde writings and plays, from Belgian Nobel laureate Maurice Maeterlinck's 1891 play Interior and 1904 essay "The Modern Drama" to Arthur Adamov's 1949 absurdist play The Invasion and an excerpt from Martin Esslin's groundbreaking 1961 book, The Theater of the Absurd. Between those selections appear August Strindberg's Ghost Sonata, Alfred Jarry's King Ubu, Wassily Kandinsky's The Yellow Sound, Tristan Tzara's The Gass Heart, and many more. Every major experimental movement--symbolism, Italian futurism, German expressionism, dada, surrealism, and theater of the absurd--is represented, and so are some minor ones, such as Jarry's crackpot Pataphysical Theater, which managed to shake things up, if not to endure. Some of the contents, like the Strindberg and Jarry plays, are otherwise widely available, but there is enough hard-to-find stuff here, such as the futurists' daringly short plays and Polish innovator Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz's The Cuttlefish, to make the book worthwhile to any theater collection. Jack Helbig
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 546 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300085265
• ISBN-13: 978-0300085266
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,002 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Anthologies

More About the Author

A theater director, writer, and scholar, Robert Knopf is the author of two books, "The Theater and Cinema of Buster Keaton" (Princeton) and "The Director as Collaborator" (Pearson). For Yale University Press, he edited "Theater and Film" and co-edited two critical anthologies of avant-garde plays and essays. He has directed plays at Circle-in-the-Square Downtown, Cherry Lane Studio, Paradise Factory, Circle Rep Lab, and New York's historic Town Hall, as well as for NPR Playhouse. He teaches acting, directing, and script analysis at University at Buffalo/SUNY, where he is a full professor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for college-level collections, August 9, 2001

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This review is from: Theater of the Avant-Garde, 1890-1950: A Critical Anthology (Paperback)

This college-level presentation provides a scholarly critical anthology analyzing the avant-garde from 1890-1950. Writers in all countries who contributed to the avant-garde of theatre and drama provide works and commentary in this collection of the full texts of sixteen selected plays along with essays and history. Recommended for college-level collections with in-depth theatre and art history sections.