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Bezig met laden... The Collected Works of Harold Clurman (The Applause Critics Circle)door Harold Clurman
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(Applause Books). For six decades, Harold Clurman illuminated our artistic, social, and political awareness in thousands of reviews, essays, and lectures. His work appeared indefatigably in The Nation, The New Republic, The London Observer, The New York Times, Harper's, Esquire, New York Magazine , and more. The Collected Works of Harold Clurman captures over six hundred of Clurman's encounters with the most significant events in American theatre as well as his regular passionate embraces of dance, music, art and film. This chronological epic offers the most comprehensive view of American theatre seen through the eyes of our most extraordinary critic. 1102 pages, hardcover. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)791.0973The arts Recreational and performing arts Public performances Biography And History North AmericaLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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The book isn't about him, of course, but about all the grand classic arts presented in its title. Harold Clurman was born in 1901 and died in 1980. His offhand remarks and stories read like the Who's Who of American theater, to be sure, but his long life also reads like the What's What of American arts and literature. (There is no such book as the second, of course, but if there were, Clurman would likely have been the only one whose wealth of knowledge, first-hand involvement, demonstrated professional expertise, and widely acclaimed ability to write was broad enough, deep enough -- and yes, high and grand enough -- to find the right and truly telling words to fill its pages.)
Imagine, eighteen and in school at Columbia in New York, he skipped his classes one February afternoon to take in the first performance of a play just opening at the Morosco Theatre by a largely unknown thirty-one year old playwright. The play, Beyond The Horizon, by Eugene O'Neill. The point is, Clurman was there; as he also was when his father scraped together enough to send him to Paris to study at the Sorbonne from 1921-1924, where another student friend was on the way to becoming one of the favorite musical celebrities: Aaron Copland (they remained friends for life). Harold was there too, as he would be in numerous other places over the next sixty years at one incredible history-making event after another. With his eyes open, his passion aflame, his mind alert, and his pen always at hand. And he used it royally, and the 2,000 results of that are contained in this book, with a good many scattered elsewhere.
But let us bring this to a close by sharpening the focus and turning the spotlight on this man full force, listening to what another monumental figure, later to become a famous director of both stage and film, had to say about him. "He was the best first-week director of our time, as he was our best theater critic. What he did during that marvelous first week's work was to illuminate the play's theme, then sketch each role brilliantly, defining its place in building the final meaning of the production. . . .He had a unique way of talking to actors -- I didn't have it and I never heard of another director who did; he turned them on with his intellect, his analyses, and his insights. But also by his high spirits. Harold's work was joyous. He didn't hector his actors from an authoritarian position; he was a partner, not an overlord, in the struggle of production. He'd reveal to each actor at the onset a concept of his or her performance, one the actor could not have anticipated and could not have found on his own. Harold's visions were brilliant; actors were eager to realize them. His character descriptions were full of details, of stage "business." They were also full of compassion for the characters' dilemmas, their failings and their aspirations. . . .I used to read the notes he made in the margin of his text and to write down what he said to the actors after each rehearsal." (These are the words of Elia Kazan, taken from his autobiography, A Life.)
That's an indication of the richness to be found in the work and writings of Harold Clurman. And the marvel of the material is this: it is written with so much obvious underlying humanity, that even the untrained person can grasp the greater part of everything it says. That is an essential aspect of the wide-ranging greatness of this gifted man. ( )