A new book on Max Frisch, Bertolt Brecht, Thornton Wilder, and the Epic Theater

[Peter Yang]

A new book on Max Frisch, Bertolt Brecht, Thornton Wilder, etc. and the Epic
Theater is scheduled to appear in October 2000. The title of the book is
"Play is Play: Theatrical Illusion in Max Frisch's 'Chinese Wall' and 'Epic'
Plays by Brecht, Wilder, Hazelton, and Li."

[Synopsis]

This book takes a close look at plays by Max Frisch and other
playwrights that critics commonly attribute to the "epic theater." It
sheds new light on the aesthetic dynamics of this theater.

As one of the closest disciples of Brecht and Wilder, Frisch created in his
"Chinese Wall" a play, in which the narrator and other characters supposedly
destroy dramatic illusions by means of their appeals to the audience, their
distance from other dramatic characters, and their temporal manipulation of
dramatic events.

This book reexamines classical examples of “epic” plays to demonstrate
that the so-called “epic” theater goes in fact far beyond being
narrative, historical, distancing, and alienating. Just as in plays by
other “epic” dramatists, the dramatic illusion in Frisch's play is far
from being eliminated. Rather, it is intensified by an additional, yet
different kind of, gripping illusion, a “theatrical illusion,” or an
illusory theatrical “reality,” which involves the audience to the
highest extent and with which the audience can hardly refuse to
identify. The book concludes that the success of “epic” plays results
from their characteristics as “theatrical” plays with modern
multidimensional perspectives as opposed to neoclassic “dramatic” ones
with a monolithic perspective.

[Order information]

If you or your library would like to order this book, please complete
the following order form (Please note: 1. If you pay by check, please
make the check payable to: University Press of America 2. You or your
library will not be charged until the book is shipped.)

______________________________________________________________________

Author: Peter Yang
ISBN: 0-7618-1808-1
Publisher: University Press of America
Pages: 174
Price: $27.50 (20% discount for any prepublication order, the discounted
price is $22) plus postage and handling
Time of Publication: October 2000

Full Name (of you or your library) ___________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Address Line 1________________________________________________________

Address Line 2________________________________________________________

Address Line 3________________________________________________________

City__________________________________________________________________

State or Province_____________________________________________________

Zip or Postal Code____________________________________________________

Country_______________________________________________________________

Telephone Number______________________________________________________

Fax Number____________________________________________________________

E-Mail Address________________________________________________________

Method of Payment:
        Check______

        Purchase Order #_____________________________________________

        Credit Card: American Express____ Master Card____ Visa______

                Card Number:___________________________

                Expiration Date:_______________________

______________________________________________________________________

and send the completed form by one of the following ways:

     1. Fax this order form to (216)561-0836, 1-800-338-4550 or
717-794-3803), or
     2. E-mail pjy2 at po.cwru.edu, or
     3. Mail this completed order form to:

         University Press of America, Inc.
         4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706,
        or
         Peter Yang
         Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
         Case Western Reserve University
         Guilford House 307
         Cleveland, OH 44120, or

    4. Order online: http://dmll.cwru.edu/pyang/bookorders.html


________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com