Description |
xiv, 177 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
Contents |
1. Woman's theatrical space -- 2. Indoors and outdoors -- 3. Reversing gender roles -- 4. The comedy of doors -- 5. The woman in the window -- 6. The useless precaution -- 7. Inside the drawing-room -- 8. Preferring insecurity -- 9. Constructed rooms -- 10. Abstract spaces -- Coda: The child's space |
Summary |
In this book Hanna Scolnicov examines the configuration of the theatrical space as an icon of the problem of woman. Through her historical and comparative study, Scolnicov reveals the changing conventions of the theatrical space as faithful expressions of the changing attitudes to woman and her sexuality. The theatrical space has shifted accordingly from the front of the palace, to the street, the piazza, and then, progressively, into the drawing-room, the kitchen, the bedroom, narrowing down the scope and infringing on the privacy of intimate relations. Some contemporary playwrights have gone further, deconstructing the familiar naturalistic room to form a non-mimetic interior. From this unusual vantage point, Scolnicov looks at plays by a wide range of authors, including, among others, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Plautus, Shakespeare, Jonson, Molière, Ibsen, Chekhov and Pinter, relating them to contemporary pictorial and architectural evidence. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of theatre and theatre history, comparative literature, and women's studies [Publisher description] |
Analysis |
Theatre Role of Women History |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-172) and index |
Subject |
European drama -- History and criticism.
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Sex role in literature.
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Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery.
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Space and time in literature.
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Women in the theater.
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LC no. |
93029417 |
ISBN |
0521394678 (hardback) |
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