dramatic setting » dramatic reading (Expand Search), domestic setting (Expand Search), artistic setting (Expand Search)
setting times » setting limits (Expand Search), setting things (Expand Search)
Seneca on the stage /
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In the absence of the stage directions employed by their modern equivalents, ancient playwrights were obliged to ''encode'' information into their texts that can be described as implicit stage directions. It is the presence of such information that permits modern ''production criticism,'' intended to determine how ancient plays were meant to be staged. Since the early nineteenth century, it has been debated whether Seneca's tragedies were or were not written for stage production. Seneca's dramatic texts contain material that looks precisely like the implicit stage directions found in all other ancient drama, and when his plays are subjected to production criticism, it emerges that they make sound dramaturgic sense. Also, Seneca avails himself of the same artificial and sometimes irrational dramatic conventions used by other ancient playwrights, a fact often ignored by those who argue that Seneca was only writing plays for reading or recitation. The internal evidence of the plays offers much to support, and little to contradict, the idea that his plays were written with the stage in mind.
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1 online resource (vi, 72 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004328310 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The reception of the legend of Hero and Leander /
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This book is a study of the literary reception of the originally Greek love-story of Hero and Leander, examining the nature of the tale and demonstrating its longevity and huge popularity from classical times to the present, in a great variety of different genres. Chapters consider the classical versions (Ovid, Musaios, Martial), medieval and renaissance versions in various European languages, folk and literary ballads (and even a pop song), the lyric, dramatic versions, settings to music, burlesques and travesties in all genres, modern reflections of the story in (experimental) literary forms.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004400948
Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India /
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Buddhism originated as an antinomial system, facing the opposition of both vaidika and theistic Brahmans, who socially identified themselves with the agrarian world. The two models of society generated in early historical India never merged, and Buddhism was gradually and often violently reduced to impotence. It was Gupta rule that first checkmated the antinomial model of the Buddhists. Whereas in the open society traders, landowners and 'tribals' coexisted, from Gupta times onwards pressure on kings and direct Brahmanical rule led to the requisition of land and the imposition of a varna state society. Doctrinal debates, which soon turned into ordeals, were instrumental in the suppression of the Buddhist elite, mainly formed by intellectuals of Brahmanical descent, this being proof of a dramatic rift in the brahmanavarna. The Vajrayana, which was the Buddhist response to this state of affairs, originated and grew under Pala rule and expansionism, and was characterized by a decisive opening towards the outcast and the theorization of violence. This set off a conflict whose scope and significance are still poorly understood. It was eventually the compromise between the orthodox powers and the Muslims that caused the final downfall of Buddhism. The former were obliged to transfer political power to the latter but had a free hand in social repression. The book draws mainly on Brahmanical sources, both literary and iconographic, which are abundant and insufficiently exploited, as well as or archaeological evidence, hardly every resorted.
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1 online resource (524 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752740