Modernists and the Theatre: The Drama of W.B. Yeats, Ezra Pound, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf

Modernists and the Theatre explores how six key modernists, including Yeats, Pound, Joyce, Eliot, and Woolf, engaged with theatre and performance, drawing on archival material and fresh readings of neglected documents. While they often made hostile comments about drama, the writers were repeatedly drawn to the form, using it to express and explore identities that had previously been sidelined in the public forum.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 13 July 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Modernists and the Theatre explores the interactions of six prominent modernists, renowned for their work in poetry and fiction, with the realm of theatre and performance. Drawing on extensive archival material and fresh readings of overlooked documents, James Moran reveals how these literary figures engaged with the playhouse, delving into W.B. Yeats's early playwriting, Ezra Pound's onstage acting, the connections between James Joyce's and D.H. Lawrence's understanding of drama, T.S. Eliot's reflections on theatrical popularity, and Virginia Woolf's feminist experiments in small-scale theatre. While these modernists often expressed negative opinions about drama, this volume underscores their enduring fascination with the form. While Yeats and Pound were captivated by the controlling nature of theatre, other authors found inspiration in it as a democratic platform for diverse voices. Some of these modernists used theatre to express and explore identities that had been marginalized in the public sphere, including the working-class mining communities depicted in Lawrence's plays, the sexually unconventional and non-binary gender expressions in Joyce's fiction, and Woolf's exploration of the female experience through theatrical performance. While these writers are primarily recognized for their non-dramatic works, this book underscores the significance of theatre to their creative endeavors and demonstrates how a sense of the theatrical influenced the broader thinking and writing of six significant figures in literary history.

Weight: 334g
Dimension: 216 x 138 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350282438