Overview
- Discusses dramatic technique in all of Coward’s major plays
- Considers both the ‘pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ plays, as well as the episodic patriotic plays
- Explores Coward’s ambivalent approach to the ‘theatre of war’ in the 20th century
Part of the book series: Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries (BSC)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Discussions of Coward’s achievement in the theatre between 1920 and 1966 have tended to stay with the colourful biography. The more analytical literary approach adopted here places Coward’s success in its wider theatrical context, making the connections with the work of other dramatists. He developed his technique according to what worked with theatre audiences. Taking up the well-made play, he brought in a more colloquial dialogue, explored, for instance, the morality and psychology of marriage and free love, and frequently exploited the dramatic possibilities of characters grouped into two camps. The book considers both the ‘pleasant’ and ‘unpleasant’ plays (to use the Shavian terms), and the episodic patriotic plays. It Includes Coward’s ambivalent approach to the ‘theatre of war’ in the 20th century. (123)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Roger Kojecky has held teaching positions in Tokyo and London University (lecturing on drama). He has been Secretary of the Christian Literary Studies Group, Oxford, and edits The Glass, covering a range of academic literature with articles and reviews.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Coward the Dramatist
Book Subtitle: Morals and Manners
Authors: Roger Kojecky
Series Title: Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52284-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-52283-3Published: 08 March 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-52286-4Due: 08 April 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-52284-0Published: 07 March 2024
Series ISSN: 2634-5811
Series E-ISSN: 2634-582X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 188
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Theatre and Performance Studies, Theatre History, Twentieth-Century Literature, Drama