A History of Modern Drama V1

David Krasner is Associate Professor at Emerson College. His publications include A Companion to Twentieth-Century American Drama (ed., Blackwell, 2005), American Drama, 1945-2000: An Introduction (Blackwell, 2006), and Theatre in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology (ed., Blackwell, 2008).

Preface and Acknowledgements ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Part I: Trauma Drama 33 Chapter 2 The Price of Freedom 39 Chapter 3 Unhinged Subjectivity 80 Chapter 4 Aboulia 109 Part II: Modernist Beginnings 137 Chapter 5 Rising Symbolism 145 Chapter 6 Rising Expressionism 158 Part III: Realism 167 Chapter 7 Rural Realism 171 Chapter 8 Urban Realism 178 Chapter 9 Optimistic Passion 182 Chapter 10 The Campaign Against Earnestness 189 Part IV: Dissociated Sensibility 193 Chapter 11 Distorted Modernism 195 Chapter 12 Lyrical Modernism 203 Chapter 13 Sentimental Modernism 210 Part V: Avant Garde 215 Chapter 14 Eros and Thanatos 217 Chapter 15 Robots and Automatons 226 Chapter 16 Farce and Parody 229 Part VI: Epic Modernism 235 Chapter 17 Gaming the System 237 Part VII: The Divided Self of American Drama 259 Chapter 18 Illusions 265 Chapter 19 Delusions 275 Chapter 20 Dreams 281 Chapter 21 Gender 289 Chapter 22 Race 293 Part VIII: Hell Is Other People 301 Chapter 23 The Farce of Intimacy 307 Chapter 24 The Tragedy of Intimacy 315 Part IX: Modernist Improvising 325 Chapter 25 Beckett Impromptu 327 Part X: Conclusion 349 Notes 351 Index 389