Ibsen's Drama: Right Action and Tragic Joy

by Theoharis C. Theoharis

Overview

Ibsen's Drama: Right Action and Tragic Joy argues that in his late plays Ibsen struggled with, and finally repudiated the Aristotelian ideas of reality and change that held sway over the earlier part of his career, and more generally over nineteenth century drama and culture. The first chapter analyzes Aristotle's Poetics, which centers on the classical relation of catharsis, rational agency, and intelligible change in human affairs. The second chapter presents Nietzsche's transformation of those topics into a modernist poetics and a modernist agenda for living. The rest of the book analyzes Ghosts, Rosmersholm, and The Master Builder , and relates Ibsen's formal, intellectual, and cultural innovations in these plays to Nietzsche's assault on the Aristotelian humanism that Victorian Europe valued so highly. Through his Nietzschean subversion of the popular forms of Victorian theatre - melodrama, problem, play, Magdalene play, professional intrigue, and remarriage plot - and the culturethey represent, Ibsen struggled messianically to reveal how life could pass, heroically, from right action to tragic joy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312221492
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	05/12/1999
Edition description:	1999
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

THEOHARIS C. THEOHARIS teaches at Harvard University and is editor of The Boston Book Review. He is the author of James Joyce's Ulysses: An Anatomy of the Soul.

Table of Contents

Preface Action in Aristotle Reality and Change Poetics Action in Nietzsche Reality and Change Nietzschean Poetics Ghosts: The Sick Will Rosmersholm: Managing the Past The Master Builder: Act One The Master Builder: Act Two The Master Builder: Act Three Afterword Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

'...a bright new addition to the major critical works on Ibsen...Ibsen's Drama demands engagement and very careful attention...' - Essays in Theatre

'...This is the best book on Ibsen I have read in years...' - Brian Johnston, Comparative Drama

'Theoharis's effective, compact study in intellectual history connects persuasively with detailed commentary on the theatrical vitality of three of Ibsen's greatest plays...Recommended...' - Choice

From the Publisher

Theoharis (English, Harvard U.) argues that in his late work the 19th-century playwright struggled with and finally repudiated the Aristotelian ideas of reality and change that dominated the early part of career. He looks specifically at "Ghosts", "Rosmersholm", and "The Master Builder" and finds a Nietzschean subversion of the popular Victorian theater and culture, and points out Ibsen's efforts to reveal how life could pass heroically from right action to tragic joy. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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