The Italian Theater of the Grotesque A New Theater for the Twentieth Century: An Anthology
Street, Jack D. , & Umlas, Rod , editors/translators

Description

This anthology fills a lacuna in the investigation of European avant-garde theater, from Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi to the New Theater of the Absurd. The introduction justifies the place of the Italian Theater of the Grotesque, and the text remedies the lack of access to its plays by translating the ones included in the anthology into English. Of the seven representative plays, five have never been translated into English before.

Reviews

“As translators, Jack Street and Rod Umlas have done exemplary work: their English texts are readable, actable, stageable and honest. As editors, they have bookended their selections with invaluable information. Street’s Introduction insures the student of Italian culture and literature a dependable guide to the origins and development of ‘I grottesci’; Umlas’ Afterword provides what is virtually a director’s prompt book – a gift to the professional director as well as the student of the Theatre.” - Mimi Gisolfi D’Aponte, Baruch College, CUNY Graduate Center

“… in the minds and hands of superior talent, the art of translation lives….I found their versions of early 20th-century drama of the Grotesque a valuable contribution to a period of Italian theatre that has been inexplicably neglected….I congratulate the authors on their engagingly composed versions, which read comfortably, convincingly, in English and are accurately rendered.” – Albert Bermel, Professor Emeritus of Theatre, CUNY Graduate Center

“Professor Street’s concise and well-informed introduction is invaluable in contextualizing the anthologized plays in the European theatrical scene of the early twentieth century; more importantly, it explains the significance of the Italian theater of the grotesque to the development of modern and contemporary drama, from Pirandello to playwrights such as Jarry and the more modern theater of Samuel Beckett….the translations are outstanding in their careful attention to the nuance of the original Italian and seem, to this reader, ideally suited for the basis of a stage performance.” – Robert J. Rodini, Professor Emeritus, Italian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Table of Contents

Table of contents: Preface; Introduction; Works Cited The Mask and the Face by Luigi Chiarelli What Passion, You Marionettes! By Rosso di San Secondo The Bird of Paradise by Enrico Cavacchioli The Man who Met Himself by Luigi Antonelli The Divine Miss D by Massimo Bontempelli Genuine Minnie by Massimo Bontempelli When One Is Somebody by Luigi Pirandello Postscript Bibliography

ISBN10:  0-7734-6738-6   ISBN13:  978-0-7734-6738-5    Pages:  420    Year:  2003   

Series: Studies in Italian Literature Number: 12

Subject Areas:  Italian - Literature, Theater,

Imprint: Edwin Mellen Press

USA List Price: $149.95 UK List Price: £ 99.95  

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