| The Art of Comedy and Social Critique in Nineteenth-Century Germany: Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer (1800-1868) Contributor(s): Van Stipriaan Pritchett, Rinske (Author), Pritchett, Rinske Van Stipriaan (Author), Sammons, Jeffrey L. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0820472182 ISBN-13: 9780820472188 Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing OUR PRICE: $50.30 Product Type: Paperback Published: January 2005 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Drama | European - General - Performing Arts |
| Dewey: 832.7 |
| LCCN: 2005044203 |
| Series: North American Studies in 19th-Century German Literature |
| Physical Information: 240 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: During the mid-nineteenth century, Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer pursued a fifty-year career as a playwright and theater manager in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at a time of the transformation of court theaters and itinerant troupes into commercial establishments staffed by middle-class professionals and subject to market forces. Although she has been undervalued by some critics past and present who considered her mainly as an adapter of contemporary novels, this study shows that with her thorough knowledge of the European dramatic tradition, her skill as a playwright, and above all her professionalism she overcame institutional and gender bias to develop a form of drama that integrated the social and economic changes of her time. The analysis focuses on her use of the subversive genre of comedy, the strategies she used to evade the censor, and her employment of assertive female and working-class characters. She revived |