| Shakespeare's Festive Tragedy: The Ritual Foundations of Genre Contributor(s): Liebler, Naomi Conn (Author) |
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ISBN: 0415086574 ISBN-13: 9780415086578 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $152.00 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 1995 Annotation: In b /b b i Shakespeare's Festive Tragedy /i /b Naomi Conn Liebler offers a trenchant and challenging re-reading of the genre of Shakespearean tragedy. Extending the category of the "festive" to apply to tragedy as well as comedy, Liebler describes Shakespearean tragedy as a celebration of communal survival, and a demonstration of what happens when a community violates the ritual structures that define and preserve it. br br Employing the works of drama theorists, such as Aristotle, Brecht and Girard, as well as cultural anthropologists, such as Clifford Geertz, Victor Turner and Mary Douglas, Liebler focuses upon tragedy as the formal representation of real social action and conflict. She views the community as a whole--not just the protagonist--as the real subject of the drama. The festive tragedy is concerned with ritual practice whose function is, as i King Lear's /i Tom O'Bedlam put it, "to prevent the fiend and to kill vermin"--that is, to protect and purge. The violation of this ritual practice jeopardizes the survival of the entire community. Through a detailed analysis of a number of Shakespeare's great tragic works, b /b b i Shakespeare's Festive Tragedy /i /b provides a series of fresh connections between the rituals of festivity and tragedy. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Drama | Shakespeare - Literary Criticism |
| Dewey: 822.33 |
| LCCN: 95009687 |
| Lexile Measure: 1370 |
| Physical Information: 0.75" H x 5.45" W x 9" (1.09 lbs) 278 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Shakespeare's Festive Tragedy is a unique look at the social and religious foundations of the tragic genre. Naomi Liebler asks whether it is possible to regard tragic heroes such as Coriolanus and King Lear as sacrifical victims of the prevailing social order'. A fascinating examination of Shakespearean tragedy, this extraordinary book will provoke excitment and controversy alike. |