Complete Plays (Hardcover)

by Ronald Firbank (Author), Steven Moore (Editor)
Key Phrases: smart world, mauve tower, silver fan, Ronald Firbank, The Princess, Monsignor Vanhove (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Firbank (1886-1926) is associated with the so-called decadents of turn-of-the century British literature and was strongly influenced by Oscar Wilde. His novels and short stories have become newly appreciated for their symbolism, witty satire, and liberal view of homosexuality. The three dramas in this collection include The Mauve Tower, a rather florid dream piece that recalls Wilde's Salome; A Disciple from the Country, which satirizes the shallowness of Mayfair society; and The Princess Zoubaroff, a three-act comedy about marriage, religion, and homosexual separatism that was written in 1920 but did not receive its first staging until 1951. Its openly gay and lesbian scenes and theme mark it as one of Firbank's most daring pieces. Recommended for comprehensive literature and drama collections.
Howard E. Miller, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Missouri Lib., St. Louis
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The principal English bearer of camp sensibility between Wilde and Coward, Firbank (1886-1926) is most famous for eight arch novels. He also wrote two one-act plays and The Princess Zoubaroff in three acts. The earliest, The Mauve Tower, is juvenilia, interesting only in that it seems inspired by Wilde's Salom{‚}e. The second, A Disciple from the Country, written when Firbank was 21, comically depicts fashionable people espousing religion for utterly vain reasons; in it, a debutante styles herself "the Saint" in order to snare men and also attracts an old woman who comes to be blessed. The camp characteristic of being enthusiastic about serious things for the wrong reasons--all there is thematically to Disciple--also animates Zoubaroff. But the long play has, besides trivializing religion, the object of ridiculing marriage; although not stating it in so many words, the play implies that all marriages are sexually fraudulent and the most desirable social state would be one of homosexual separatism. Disciple offers just enough glib superciliousness to be utterly amusing; Zoubaroff, though it has its moments, rather too much. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 130 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; 1st edition (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564780473
• ISBN-13: 978-1564780478
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,233,033 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)