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The Qur'an and Modern Arabic Literary Criticism: From Taha to Nasr (Suspensions: Contemporary Middle Eastern and Islamicate Thought)
by Mohammad SalamaIn The Qur'an and Modern Arabic Literary Criticism, Mohammad Salama navigates the labyrinthine semantics that underlie this sacred text and inform contemporary scholarship. The book presents reflections on Quranic exegesis by explaining - and distinguishing between - interpretation and explication. While the book focuses on Quranic and literary scholarship in twentieth-century Egypt from Taha Husayn to Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, it also engages with an immense tradition of scholarship from the classical period to the present, including authors such as Abu 'Ubayda, Ibn 'Abbas, al-Razi, and al-Tabari.Salama argues that, over the centuries, the Arabic language experienced semantic and phonological shifts, creating a lacuna in understanding the Qur'an and bringing contemporary readers under the spell of hermeneutical and parochial interpretations. He demonstrates that while this lacuna explains much of the intellectual poverty of traditionalist approaches to Quranic exegesis, the work of the modern Egyptian school of academics marks a sharp departure from the programmed conservatism of Islamist and Salafi exegetics. Through analyses of the writings of these intellectuals, the author shows that a fresh look at the sources and a revolutionary attempt to approach the Qur'an could render tradition itself an impetus for an alternative aesthetics-contextual, open, and unfolding.
Contemporary Plays from Iraq: A Cradle; A Strange Bird on Our Roof; Cartoon Dreams; Ishtar in Baghdad; Me, Torture, and Your Love; Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad; Summer Rain; The Takeover; The Widow
by A. Al-Azraki Monadhil Daoud Albayati Abdul Razaq al Rubai Ali Abdel-Nabi Al-Zaidi Rasha Fadhil Awatif Naeem Abdul-Kareem Mahdi Saleh Kareem Shghidel Hoshang Waziri James Al-ShammaContemporary Plays from Iraq is a ground-breaking collection of Middle Eastern drama translated into English for the very first time. With works from both established and emerging male and female playwrights, written in country and in exile, this volume offers current Iraqi perspectives on a war and occupation that have significantly impacted the Middle East and the rest of the world. Dealing exclusively with contemporary plays originating from Iraq, this anthology gives under-studied Arabic political theatre the attention it deserves and provides a general introduction that sets the plays within their cultural and historical contexts. The plays are preceded by introductions from the playwrights themselves, further enriching each piece for the enjoyment and understanding of the reader.The volume is introduced and translated by James Al-Shamma, Assistant Professor at Belmont University, US, and A. Al-Azraki, an Iraqi playwright.
King Richard III: Language and Writing (Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing)
by Rebecca LemonA new type of study aid which combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the critical writings skills students need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare's texts. The book's core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare's complex dramatic language, and expanding the student's own critical vocabulary as they respond to the play.The book explores several different approaches to Shakespeare's language. It looks at how the subtleties of Shakespeare's language reveal the thought processes and motivations of his characters, often in ways those characters themselves don't recognise; it analyses how Shakespeare's language works within or sometimes against various historical contexts, the contexts of stage performance, of genre and of discourses of his day (of religion, law, commerce, and friendship); and it explores how the peculiarities of Shakespeare's language often point to broad issues, themes, or ways of thinking that transcend any one character or line of action. Each chapter includes a "Writing Matters" section, giving students ideas and guidance for building their own critical response to the play and the skills to articulate it with confidence.
Reading Shakespeare's Soliloquies: Text, Theatre, Film
by Neil Corcoran'Now I am alone,' says Hamlet before speaking a soliloquy. But what is a Shakespearean soliloquy? How has it been understood in literary and theatrical history? How does it work in screen versions of Shakespeare? What influence has it had? Neil Corcoran offers a thorough exploration and explanation of the origin, nature, development and reception of Shakespeare's soliloquies. Divided into four parts, the book supplies the historical, dramatic and theoretical contexts necessary to understanding, offers extensive and insightful close readings of particular soliloquies and includes interviews with eight renowned Shakespearean actors providing details of the practical performance of the soliloquy. A comprehensive study of a key aspect of Shakespeare's dramatic art, this book is ideal for students and theatre-goers keen to understand the complexities and rewards of Shakespeare's unique use of the soliloquy.
Lampedusa (Modern Plays)
by Anders LustgartenThis is where the world began. This was Caesar's highway. Hannibal's road to glory. These were the trading routes of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, the Ottomans and the Byzantines . . . We all come from the sea and back to the sea we will go. The Mediterranean gave birth to the world.Step into the shoes of those whose job it is to enforce our harsh new rules: an Italian coastguard and a payday lender from Leeds. How do they do it? And what happens to them? Lampedusa is a powerful play about immigration and welfare. This edition was published to coincide with the premiere at the Soho Theatre, London, on 8 April 2015, as part of the Soho Theatre's season of Politics.
Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho (Modern Plays)
by Jon Brittain Matt TedfordLook at us, Margaret - the press is on our side. We're heroes: the public is behind us, we're protecting our children, the party is united behind the cause. You can stand against it if you want, but you will stand alone.Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female Prime Minister, gets lost around the streets of Soho on the eve of the vote for Section 28. Unwittingly, she finds herself quickly becoming a cabaret sensation within London's gay community.This camp political drag cabaret explores, through songs and laughter, homophobia and censorship, and how one person could have made a difference.Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho received its world premiere at London's Theatre503 in June 2013 as part of the Thatcherwrite Festival, and was revived in a full production there in December 2013. This second edition is published to coincide with its transfer to the Leicester Square Theatre and Norwich Playhouse in March 2015, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2015.
Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre (Modern Plays)
by Anders LustgartenThere is no such thing as a happy colonised people.Never has been and never will be.That is our basic delusion.December 2011. Watching video footage from a drone, Pentagon officials see a huddle of people – unarmed smugglers, with mules – treading their familiar path across the Turkish-Iraqi border. Hours later, Turkish Armed Forces drop bombs on the group. 34 civilians are killed.The Roboski massacre is one of the most controversial episodes in the 'war on terror'. Piecing together the fragments of the tragedy, Anders Lustgarten's startling new play dares to ask what a massacre is made of.Shrapnel is a story of malicious commands and mournful commemorations; an urgent, powerful insight into the state of modern warfare. This edition was published to coincide with the UK premiere at the Arcola Theatre, London, on 11 March 2015.
peddling (Modern Plays)
by Harry Mellingif I was gold almighty himself,and destroyed this first attempt at life.what would my second version be?. . . a dead end of endless possibility.A pedlar boy wakes up in a field somewhere in London, surrounded by the remnants of the night before. With no memory of how he has come to be there, he knows he must go back to the start in order to understand it all. His attempts to retrace events from the previous days lead him on a haunting journey where everything comes into question: his life, his world, his future.peddling is Harry Melling's remarkable debut play following a day in the life of a door-to-door salesman as he battles difficult questions and attempts to come to terms with the resulting truths.peddling received its world premiere at Hightide Festival on 10 April 2014, performed by Harry Melling, before transferring to 59E59 Theatre, NY, for a four-week run. It was revived in 2015 by HighTide at the Arcola Theatre, London.
One Hand Clapping (Modern Plays)
by Anthony Burgess Lucia CoxSometimes when I'm at work and waiting for customers I think about the two of us living like kings and not bothering about the future. Because there may not be any future to bother about, you know. Not for anybody, one of these days. And it's a wicked world.Average couple Janet and Howard's lives begin to unravel when Howard's photographic memory helps win him a gameshow fortune. Janet doesn't want their lives to change that much. She's quite happy working at the supermarket, cooking for her husband three times a day and watching quiz shows in the evening. But once Howard unleashes his photographic brain on the world, the once modest used-car salesman can't seem to stop. And what he sees as the logical conclusion to his success isn't something Janet can agree to. Burgess's 1961 darkly comic satire of drab English consumerism is adapted for the stage by Lucia Cox. This edition was published to coincide with the US premiere at the Brits Off-Broadway Festival, at 59E59 Theatre, New York, in May 2015.
Hamlet: Arden Performance Editions (Arden Performance Editions)
by William Shakespeare Abigail Rokison-WoodallThe young Prince Hamlet, returning from university, finds his Kingdom in disarray: 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'. With his father dead, and his uncle and mother marrying, Hamlet is confronted by an armored ghost, who, claiming to be the King, implores him to enact revenge upon the newlyweds and restore order to the realm. Yet, Hamlet's ability to act conflicts with his will to think: curing the rot and stabilising the kingdom will unleash a series of tragedies that threaten to ruin his entire family.Arden Performance Editions are ideal for anyone engaging with a Shakespeare play in performance. With clear facing-page notes giving definitions of words, easily accessible information about key textual variants, lineation, metrical ambiguities and pronunciation, each edition has been developed to open the play's possibilities and meanings to actors and students.Designed to be used and to be useful, each edition has plenty of space for personal annotations and the well-spaced text is easy to read and to navigate.Each edition offers: - Short, clear definitions of words- Information about key textual variants- Notes on pronunciation of difficult names and unfamiliar words- An easy to read layout with space to write your own notes- A short introduction to the play
Seneca: Hercules Furens (Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy)
by Neil BernsteinHercules is the best-known character from classical mythology. Seneca's play Hercules Furens presents the hero at a moment of triumph turned to tragedy. Hercules returns from his final labor, his journey to the Underworld, and then slaughters his family in an episode of madness. This play exerted great influence on Shakespeare and other Renaissance tragedians, and also inspired contemporary adaptations in film, TV, and comics. Aimed at undergraduates and non-specialists, this companion introduces the play's action, historical context and literary tradition, critical reception, adaptation, and performance tradition.
Aeschylus: Libation Bearers (Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy)
by C. W. MarshallLibation Bearers is the 'middle' play in the only extant tragic trilogy to survive from antiquity, Aeschylus' Oresteia, first produced in 458 BCE. This introduction to the play will be useful for anyone reading it in Greek or in translation. Drawing on his wide experience teaching about performance in the ancient world, C. W. Marshall helps readers understand how the play was experienced by its ancient audience. His discussion explores the impact of the chorus, the characters, theology, and the play's apparent affinities with comedy. The architecture of choral songs is described in detail. The book also investigates the role of revenge in Athenian society and the problematic nature of Orestes' matricide. Libation Bearers immediately entered the Athenian visual imagination, influencing artistic depictions on red-figured vases, and inspiring plays by Euripides and Sophocles. This study looks to the later plays to show how 5th-century audiences understood Libation Bearers. Modern reception of the play is integrated into the analysis. The volume includes a full range of ancillary material, providing a list of relevant red-figure vase illustrations, a glossary of technical terms, and a chronology of ancient and modern theatrical versions.
Greek to GCSE: Revised edition for OCR GCSE Classical Greek (9–1)
by John TaylorFirst written in response to a JACT survey of over 100 schools, and now endorsed by OCR, this textbook has become a standard resource for students in the UK and for readers across the world who are looking for a clear and thorough introduction to the language of the ancient Greeks. Revised throughout and enhanced by coloured artwork and text features, this edition will support the new OCR specification for Classical Greek (first teaching 2016).Part 1 covers the basics and is self-contained, with its own reference section. It covers the main declensions, a range of active tenses and a vocabulary of 250 Greek words to be learned. Pupil confidence is built up by constant consolidation of the material covered. After the preliminaries, each chapter concentrates on stories with one source or subject: Aesop, Homer's Odyssey and Alexander the Great, providing an excellent introduction to Greek culture alongside the language study. Written by a long-time school teacher and examiner, this two-part course is based on experience of what pupils find difficult, concentrating on the essentials and on the understanding of principles in both accidence and syntax: minor irregularities are postponed and subordinated so that the need for rote learning is reduced. It aims to be user-friendly, but also to give pupils a firm foundation for further study.
Greek to GCSE: Revised edition for OCR GCSE Classical Greek (9–1)
by John TaylorFirst written in response to a JACT survey of over 100 schools, and now endorsed by OCR, this textbook has become a standard resource for students in the UK and for readers across the world who are looking for a clear and thorough introduction to the language of the ancient Greeks. Revised throughout and enhanced by coloured artwork and text features, this edition will support the new OCR specification for Classical Greek (first teaching 2016).Part 1 covers the basics, whilst Part 2 introduces a wider range of grammatical forms and constructions, with a vocabulary of 435 words and reading material from Socrates and the Sophists to the world of myth, and finally to extended passages of lightly adapted Herodotus. Practice passages, exam papers and revision sentences for GCSE complete Part 2, which has a reference section covering the whole course. Written by a long-time school teacher and examiner, this two-part course is based on experience of what pupils find difficult, concentrating on the essentials and on the understanding of principles in both accidence and syntax: minor irregularities are postponed and subordinated so that the need for rote learning is reduced. It aims to be user-friendly, but also to give pupils a firm foundation for further study.
Lovesong of the Electric Bear (Modern Plays)
by Snoo WilsonNothing is stronger than this love, for I am nothing indeed without you, MasterAwoken from his deathbed by his favourite childhood teddy bear, Turing is led by the hand through the journey of his life, from glowing academia to New York drag bars, from triumph to disgrace. Snoo Wilson's Lovesong of the Electric Bear is an epic, psychedelic and electrifying trip through the life of Alan Turing, the computer visionary and maths genius whose gifts made him the code-breaking hero of World War II, but whose homosexuality led him to betrayal and vilification by the very establishment who had depended on him for victory. Lovesong of the Electric Bear is a wonderfully imaginative, comic and moving play from one of British theatre's great voices. The edition publishes to coincide with the European premiere at the Hope Theatre, London, on 24 February 2015.
Beyond Caring (Modern Plays)
by Alexander ZeldinI'm a hard worker. I don't push him to the . . . You know I don't go out for breaks when I'm not supposed to. I don't stay in the loo when I'm not supposed to. If I was that kind of person I could have him done for discrimination . . . I just get on with things you know.Four people arrive to work the night shift in a meat factory. They meet for the first time. They are employed as cleaners by a temp agency. They are all on zero-hours contracts.Every shift, they clean. Every four hours, they take a break. They drink tea or coffee together. They read magazines. They chat. As it gets light, they go home or to another job. The cycle goes on. And on. Strangers. Until something stirs, until isolated people get too close to one another, too fast.Alexander Zeldin's brutally honest and darkly humorous play, written through devising with the ensemble of the premiere production, exposes stories of an invisible class. It received its world premiere at The Yard on 1 July 2014 and transferred to the National Theatre's Temporary Theatre on 28 April 2015.
Pioneer (Modern Plays)
by Curious DirectiveWe have all stared up at the stars and desperately tried to put into words what it is that we are feeling. This mission is an articulation of that wonder. It's 2029: the first human mission to Mars has disappeared without a trace; a reclusive Indian billionaire has funded Ghara I, a new attempt to achieve this dream; in Siberia, two Russian brothers reconnect by driving a Lada Sputnik 1.3 in search of the birth of space travel; at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, Maartje holds on to a secret about her sister;and on Mars, Imke and Oskar, a young Dutch couple, are mysteriously separated.Pioneer shuttles you from the Garden of Eden to mission control, and on to the surface of Mars.A sci-fi thriller, this edition was published to coincide with curious directive's national tour, which opened in March 2015.
The Armour (Modern Plays)
by Ben EllisBecause power is fragile, it requires you naked. That is why the most powerful people in the world have sex in hotels. In fact, having sex in the best hotels makes you powerful. It doesn't matter how good the sex is, only how good the hotel is.Featuring three duologues, set in 2015, 1970 and 1981, all within the walls of London's Langham Hotel, The Armour is a site-specific drama about the lasting and changing effects of empire. The play received its world premiere at The Langham Hotel, in a promenade production, on 3 March 2015.
The Slow Philosophy of J. M. Coetzee
by Jan WilmIn The Slow Philosophy of J.M. Coetzee Jan Wilm analyses Coetzee's singular aesthetic style which, he argues, provokes the reader to read his works slowly. The effected 'slow reading' is developed into a method specifically geared to analyzing Coetzee's singular oeuvre, and it is shown that his works productively decelerate the reading process only to dynamize the reader's reflexion in a way that may be termed philosophical. Drawing on fresh archival material, this is the first study of its kind to explore Coetzee's writing process as already slow; as a program of seemingly relentless revision which brings forth his uniquely dense and crystalline style. Through the incorporation of material from drafts and notebooks, this study is also the first to combine an exploration of the writer's stylistic choices with a rigorous analysis of the reader's responses. The book includes close readings of Coetzee's popular and lesser known work, including Disgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians, Elizabeth Costello, Life and Times of Michael K and Slow Man.
A Director's Guide to Stanislavsky's Active Analysis: Including the Formative Essay on Active Analysis by Maria Knebel
by James ThomasA Director's Guide to Stanislavsky's Active Analysis describes Active Analysis, the innovative rehearsal method Stanislavsky formulated in his final years. By uniting 'mental analysis' and 'études', Active Analysis puts an end to the problem of mind-body dualism and formalized text memorization that traditional rehearsal methods foster. The book describes Active Analysis both practically and conceptually; Part One guides the reader through the entire process of Active Analysis, using A Midsummer Night's Dream as a practical reference point. The inspiration here is the work of the Russian director Anatoly Efros, whose pioneering work led the way for a reawakening of theatre in post-Soviet Russia. Part Two is the first English translation of Maria Knebel's foundational article about Active Analysis. Knebel was hand-selected by Stanislavsky to carry his final work forward in unadulterated form for succeeding generations of directors and actors. A Director's Guide to Stanislavsky's Active Analysis provides the first detailed explanation of Active Analysis from the director's perspective, while also meeting the needs of actors who seek to enhance their creative involvement in the process of play production.
In Place of a Show: What Happens Inside Theatres When Nothing Is Happening
by Augusto CorrieriIn Place of a Show is a compelling account of Western theatre buildings in the 21st century: theatres stripped of their primary purpose, lying empty, preserved as museums, or demolished. Playfully combining first-person narratives, scholarly research and visual documents, Augusto Corrieri explores the material and imaginative potentials of these places, charting interconnections between humans, birds, vegetation, and the beguiling animations of inanimate things, such as walls, curtains and seats. Across four chapters we learn of the uncanny dismantling and reconstitution of a German Baroque auditorium during the Second World War; the phantasmal remains of a demolished music hall in London's East End; a Renaissance Italian theatre, fleetingly transformed into an aviary by the appearance of a swallow; and a lavish opera house emerging from the Amazon rainforest. In these pages we are invited to discover theatres as sites of anomalous encounters and surprising coincidences: places that might reveal the performative entanglement of human and nonhuman worlds.
Modern Print Artefacts: Textual Materiality and Literary Value in British Print Culture, 1890-1930s (Edinburgh Critical Studies in Modernist Culture)
by Patrick CollierThis study focuses on the close connections between literary value and the materiality of popular print artefacts in Britain from 1890-1930. The book demonstrates that the materiality of print objects—paper quality, typography, spatial layout, use of illustrations, etc.—became uniquely visible and significant in these years, as a result of a widely perceived crisis in literary valuation. In a set of case studies, it analyses the relations between literary value, meaning, and textual materiality in print artefacts such as newspapers, magazines, and book genres—artefacts that gave form to both literary works and the journalistic content (critical essays, book reviews, celebrity profiles, and advertising) through which conflicting conceptions of literature took shape. In the process, it corrects two available misperceptions about reading in the period: that books were the default mode of reading, and that experimental modernism was the sole literary aesthetic that could usefully represent modern life.
The Student's Guide to Shakespeare
by William McKenzieThis book is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the busy undergraduate studying Shakespeare. Offering detailed guidance to the plays most often taught on undergraduate courses, the volume targets the topics tutors choose for essay questions and is organised to help students find the information they need quickly. Each text discussion contains sections on sources, characters, performance, themes, language, and critical history, helping students identify the different ways of approaching a text. The book’s unique play-based structure and character-centre approach allows students to easily navigate the material. The flexibility of the design allows students to either read cover-to-cover, target a specific play, or explore elements of a narrative unit such as imagery or characterisation. The reader will gain quickly a full grasp of the kind of dramatist William Shakespeare was - and is.
Coleridge: Lectures on Shakespeare (1811-1819)
by Adam Roberts Samuel Taylor ColeridgeThis volume comprises a freshly composed edition of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1811-12 Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton and 1818-19 Lectures on Shakespeare. Coleridge is a foundational figure in Shakespeare criticism, and remains to this day one of the most incisive and best. Nobody interested in Coleridge, Shakespeare or Literary Criticism more broadly can afford to be ignorant of Coleridge’s famous lectures.
Beckett Matters: Essays on Beckett's Late Modernism
by S. E. GontarskiRepresenting a profound engagement with the work of Samuel Beckett, this volume gathers the very best of Stan Gontarski’s Beckett criticism on practical, theoretical and critical levels. Such a range suggests a multiplicity of approaches to a body of work itself multiple, produced by an artist who underwent any number of transformations and reinventions over his long writing career. Many of the essays collected here explore Beckett’s debt to his age, Beckett very much a product of a culture in transition, which change he would help foster. But much of Beckett’s creative struggle was to find a new way, his own way. Most of the essays that comprise this volume detail that struggle, toward a way we now call Beckettian.