Aristotle and Black Drama: A Theater of Civil Disobedience:

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Schutzumschlag am Buchr�cken leicht besto�n, sonst ein tadelloses Exemplar / Dust jacket slightly bumped at spine, otherwise a pristine copy. - Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as both moral reflection and political act, the performance of civil disobedience in the face of unjust laws is, Patrice Rankine argues, a deeply artistic practice. Modern parallels to King�s civil disobedience can be found in black theater, where the black body challenges the normative assumptions of classical texts and modes of creation. Rankine utilizes Aristotles Poetics to understand the theater of civil disobedience. He ably invokes the six aspects of Aristotelian drama�character, story, thought, spectacle, song, and diction�to demonstrate the re-appropriation and rejection of these themes in the works of black playwrights August Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy, Eugene O�Neill, and others. And from this exercise, Aristotle and Black Drama derives from the theater of civil disobedience a tension that still exists between modernity and black identity. / Contents List of Illustrations Prologue 1 Introduction Civil Disobedience as Resistance to Tradition and Performance 2 Classical Origins of Character and Adrienne Kennedy�s Funnyhouse of a Negro, Electra, and Orestes 3 The Oedipus Story and the Perfect Play, or the Gospel According to Rita Dove The Darker Face of the Earth and Sonata Mulattica: A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play 4 Racial Intent and Dramatic Form Eugene O�Neill�s All God�s Chillun Got Wings and The Emperor Jones 5 Aristotle�s �Spectacle� and August Wilson�s �Spectacle Character� Joe Turner�s Come and Gone 6 Freedom Songs and Metaphors of Healing Eugene O�Neill�s Mourning Becomes Electra, Lorraine Hansberry�s A Raisin in the Sun, and Suzan-Lori Parks� Venus and Topdog/Underdog 7 Civil Disobedience, Truth and Reconciliation, and the Cosmopolitan Citizen Charles Smith�s The Gospel According to James, Thomas Bradshaw�s Mary, David Mamet�s Race, and Bruce Norris� Clybourne Park Epilogue References Index. ISBN 9781602584525