Tom F. Driver

A history of modern theatre from the romantics to the mid-20th century, with a special focus on how the theatre was impacted by romanticism. It starts out slow, with a great deal of pedantry, and if you're not fond of the romantics, you might find his love for this genre a bit hard to take. But I plunged on, cringing when he twisted and shoved and trimmed to fit Shaw into the romantics. It was all over for me when he dismissed American theatre in a chapter indicating that clearly he was demanding a uniquely American voice, free from European influence, but was prepared to deny any uniquely American voice that arose. The final straw was the dismissal of Death of a Salesman as a play without substance; any remaining claim he had to credibility was destroyed immediately. In addition, this was written in the 1960s, and so is larded, as most literary criticism of that time, with Freudian assumptions. It is a large, dense book, and therefore should be picked up cautiously by anyone seeking a clear analysis. There are many better.… (meer)