Edited by Brenda Murphy (NHC Fellow, 1981–82) William Dean Howells has long been recognized as the chief spokesman for post-1880s American Realism. Most of his writing appeared in popular magazines, however, and has been lost to us. This collection brings together for the first time his most significant essays about American drama written between 1875 … Continued
By Brenda Murphy (NHC Fellow, 1981–82) The importance of Native American realism is traced through a study of the evolution of dramatic theory from the early 1890s through World War I and the uniquely American innovations in realistic drama between world wars.
Edited by Henry S. Turner (NHC Fellow, 2010–11) The original essays in Oxford Twenty-First Century Approaches to Literature mean to provoke rather than reassure, to challenge rather than codify. Instead of summarizing existing knowledge, scholars working in the field aim at opening fresh discussion; instead of emphasizing settled consensus, they direct their readers to areas … Continued
By Pedro Calderón de la BarcaEdited by John J. Allen (NHC Fellow, 1989–90) and Domingo Ynduráin
By Maynard Mack (NHC Fellow, 1984–85; 1986–87) Everybody’s Shakespeare brings the insights and wisdom of one of the finest Shakespearean scholars of our century to the task of surveying why the Bard continues to flourish in modern times. Mack treats individually seven plays—Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Cesar, and Antony and Cleopatra—and demonstrates … Continued
By M. C. Bradbrook (NHC Fellow, 1978–79; 1980–81) Little has been known about Webster until quite recently when his family origins were traced in the London parish of St Sepulchrewithout-Newgate. Now we know that his father was a coachmaker and that he lived with his family in Nag's Head Alley. In this, the first full … Continued
By Helen Solterer (NHC Fellow, 2002–03) Ranging from France to Russia to America in the throes of world war and revolution, Medieval Roles for Modern Times investigates how critics and creators made medieval culture a part of their modern world through theatrical role-playing. On both the Left and the Right across Europe, partisans used drama to express … Continued
By Mary Floyd-Wilson (NHC Fellow, 2008–09; 2016–17) Belief in spirits, demons and the occult was commonplace in the early modern period, as was the view that these forces could be used to manipulate nature and produce new knowledge. In this groundbreaking study, Mary Floyd-Wilson explores these beliefs in relation to women and scientific knowledge, arguing … Continued
By Michèle Longino (NHC Fellow, 1997–98) Michele Longino examines the ways in which Mediterranean exoticism alters the themes in French classical drama through the exploration of such plays by Corneille, Moliere and Racine as Le Cid, Medee, and Le bourgeois gentilhomme among others. She considers the role that the staging of the near Orient played … Continued
By Jonathan Dollimore (NHC Fellow, 1988–89) When it was first published, Radical Tragedy was hailed as a groundbreaking reassessment of the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. An engaged reading of the past with compelling contemporary significance, Radical Tragedy remains a landmark study of Renaissance drama. The third edition of this critically acclaimed work includes a new foreword by … Continued