Sources of Dramatic Theory: Volume 1, Plato to Congreve / Edition 1

by Michael J. Sidnell, D. J. Conacher, Barbara Kerslake, Pia Kleber, C. J. McDonough

Overview

This volume includes major theoretical writings on drama from the Greeks, through the Renaissance up to the late seventeenth century, compiled and edited for students of drama and theater. There are substantial extracts from twenty-eight writers including Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Scaliger, Castelvetro, Guarini, Sidney, Jonson, Corneille, Racine, Dryden and Congreve. The compilers have chosen writers who present detailed arguments about issues that are still relevant to our understanding of drama and theater. Many of the texts have been freshly translated and all have been newly annotated and introduced by the compilers, who draw attention to recurrent themes by a system of cross-references. Michael Sidnell's useful introduction explores the issues that frequently concern these writers and practitioners: the nature of imitation, the relation of dramatic text to live performance, the effect of stage action on audience emotion and behavior—issues that still concern critics and theorists of drama today. Later volumes will cover the period from Diderot to Victor Hugo, modern dramatic theory, and performance theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521326940
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/09/1991
Series:	Sources of Dramatic Theory
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.14(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement; Note on the texts; 1. Introduction; 2. Plato: The Republic, III 3. Aristotle: The Poetics; 4. Horace: The Art of Poetry; 5. Donatus: On Comedy; 6. Francesco Robortello: Commentary on Aristotle's Poetics; 7. Julius Caesar Scaliger: Poetics; 8. Bartolome de Torres de Naharro: Introduction to Propalladia; 9. Antonfrancesco Grazzini: The Witch: introductory dialogue; 10. Giambattista Giraldi: Prologue to Altile On the Composition of Comedies and Tragedies; 11. Ludovico Castelvetro: On the Art of Poetry; 12. Richard Edwards: Prologue to Damon and Pythias; 13. Giambattista Guarini: The Compendium of Tragicomic Poetry; 14. Sforza Oddi: Prologue to The Prison of Love; 15. George Whetstone: Promos and Cassandra Epistle Dedicatory; 16. Angelo Ingegneri: On Mimetic Poetry 17. Lorenzo Giacomini: On Purgation in Tragedy 18. Sir Philip Sidney: The Defence of Poetry; 19. Lope de Vega Carpio: New Art of Making Comedies at the Present Time; 20. Ben Jonson: Timber, or Discoveries Induction to Every Man Out of his Humour Prologue to Every Man in His Humour The Magnetic Lady Chorus; 21. Thomas Heywood: The Author to his Book An Apology for Actors 22. Tirso de Molina: The Country Houses of Toledo; 23. On Le Cid: Observations on Le Cid The Opinion of the French Academy Concerning Le Cid; 24. Francois Hedelin, Abbe d'Aubignac: The Practical Art of the Theatre; 25. Pierre Corneille: On the Purpose and Parts of a Play On Verisimilitude and the Necessary On the Three Unities; 26. Charles de Saint-Evremond: On Ancient and Modern Tragedy; 27. Jean Racine: Notes to Aristotle's Poetics; Prefaces; 28. Thomas Rymer: The Tragedies of the Last Age A Short View of Tragedy; 29. John Dryden: An Essay of Dramatic Poesy; 30. William Congreve: On Humour in Comedy; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...Sidnell has drawn material together in an interesting and useful way." Douglas H. White, Letters In Canada

From the Publisher