The Dark Comedy

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THE DARK COMEDY By J. L. STYAN Staff Tutor in Literature and Drama Department of Aduit Education, University of Hull Much of twentieth-century drama defies the traditional pigeon-holes of tragedy and comedy: the heroes are not straightforwardly heroic; the subject-matter seems at somé time grimly realistic and at others nearer to pure fantasy; and critics and audience alike seem not to know quite what to make of it all. Mr Styan sets out to explain and illuminate the nature of this dark, paradoxicai comedy. He reminds us, first, that this is not a purely modern phenomenon: many great plays of the past have similarly defied classification and have called for an equally vacillating response from their audience. But nonetheless this dramatic genre has had its clearest expression in the last sixty years; and in showing in detail how its techniques have developed from Ibsen and Chekhov to Pirandello, Anouilh and modern playwrights such as Ionesco, Beckett, Tennessee Williams and Pintér,... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE DARK COMEDY By J. L. STYAN Staff Tutor in Literature and Drama Department of Aduit Education, University of Hull Much of twentieth-century drama defies the traditional pigeon-holes of tragedy and comedy: the heroes are not straightforwardly heroic; the subject-matter seems at somé time grimly realistic and at others nearer to pure fantasy; and critics and audience alike seem not to know quite what to make of it all. Mr Styan sets out to explain and illuminate the nature of this dark, paradoxicai comedy. He reminds us, first, that this is not a purely modern phenomenon: many great plays of the past have similarly defied classification and have called for an equally vacillating response from their audience. But nonetheless this dramatic genre has had its clearest expression in the last sixty years; and in showing in detail how its techniques have developed from Ibsen and Chekhov to Pirandello, Anouilh and modern playwrights such as Ionesco, Beckett, Tennessee Williams and Pintér, Mr Styan enriches our understanding. We come to realise that the playwright can use his médium to explore largely uncharted areas of feeling and response: the complex tensions which he builds up in the action of the play between the actor and the audience, and within the individual spectator himself, are means to this end. The result may be highly disturbing: but it is worth while. Anyone who takes an intelligent interest in theatre-going will find profit and stimulus in this book. It covers a wide rangé of subjectmatter; but its underlying theme is clear, forceful and unified. Vissza