 |
 |
Radical Tragedy was written by Jonathan Dollimore and it isn't just about Shakespeare but about Rennaisance tragedy generally. Cheers, Jon >From: "david.bircumshaw" <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and > poetics <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Shakespeare the Radical? >Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 11:04:27 -0000 > >Yes, Al, I know Kott didn't write Radical Tragedy, his book as I recall was >translated as Shakespeare Our Contemporary, I speak from memory here, as I >no longer have the text. > >The mention of Coriolanus is interesting, while there was, as you have >rightly pointed out, a very strong tradition of portraying WS as a radical >writer in Poland, if memory serves (again) it was one the places where >versions of the WS plays were performed in his +lifetime+, at the same time >Coriolanus was actually banned in post-war occupied Germany by all or some >of the Allied Forces (I can't recall whether it was only in the American >zone) as the Nazis had employed the play as a tool of propaganda. Which >issues seem to be a characteristic product of the ambivalence that is >Shakespeare. > >An ambivalence which is fascinating! > >(btw I think Robin knows who wrote Radical Tragedy but we'll have to wait >till he re-surfaces) > >All the Best > >Dave > > >David Bircumshaw > >Leicester, England > >Home Page > >A Chide's Alphabet > >Painting Without Numbers > >http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Alison Croggon" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 11:45 AM >Subject: Re: Shakespeare the Radical? > > >At 8:27 AM +0000 1/24/03, david.bircumshaw wrote: > >WS certainly seems to have been > >'canny', as in Alison's phrase, but there is a strong sense that >disturbance > >of the existing order is 'villainy', Jon's word. I just don't know, > >relativism seems to reign in the Bard's work. > >The argument about the analysis of power comes from the history plays >more than the tragedies or comedies (though Coriolanus, the story of >a man who couldn't be dishonest and so met his downfall, is a pretty >interesting political text). I'd suggest it's a little perilous to >draw easy homilies out of Shakespeare's best work (even his own >homilies are worth treating gingerly). His characters are too >ambiguous. > >Kott is rather more than "touching", I would think: he's a perceptive >critic of theatre and especially of Shakespeare. He didn't write >_Radical Tragedy_, it was someone else whose name I forget (English, >I think). A while since I read it. I was kind of hoping someone >who'd read it more recently than me and could remember the author >would pipe up here... > >Best > >A >-- > > > >Alison Croggon >Home page >http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/ > >Masthead Online >http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/ _________________________________________________________________ Chat online in real time with MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.co.uk