[Comedias] The Playwright's Perspective.

[UnPrSouth at aol.com]

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to let you know about the new book by Dr. Anthony J. 
Grubbs, The Playwright's Perspective. Innovative Dramaturgy and its Poetics in 
Early Modern Spain (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2010). 
Peruse the digital page of his book at:
http://www.unprsouth.com/playwright%20perspective.htm  
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Presentation of the Book:
    The relationship between Golden Age theater theory and practice, 
illustrated through the study of representative works by six playwrights, is the 
topic of this study. The impact of practice on theory is as irrefutable as 
the impact of theory on practice. In fact, many prominent playwrights wrote 
treatises (re)affirming their decisions to stray from traditional norms and to 
create new dramatic art forms. Without exception these defenses were 
written after the playwright had enjoyed success and introduced his-and, in the 
case of Golden Age Spain, the theatrical world was overwhelmingly populated by 
men-particular pioneering contribution to the theater. By examining the 
ways which theatrical practice was influenced by performance and audience 
reception, their impact on shaping theatrical theory becomes clear, not only in 
the well known case of Lope's Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, 
but throughout sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain.  
    Of course, all playwrights continually face the challenge of creating 
original works for a dynamic and demanding public who must be kept at the 
forefront when writing a play, since they are the receptors of the message that 
is transmitted by means of the performance of the dramatic text. This 
realization, however, does not downplay the importance of the script, but 
elevates all three aspects: the text, performance, and reception, to equal ground. 
These factors have led me to concentrate on the connection between 
performance and reception in this study of early modern Spanish dramatic theory, and 
although performance and reception can be dealt with in a mutually exclusive 
manner, it is more feasible to look at them collectively with the dramatic 
text in the attempt to reproduce the entire dramatic spectacle.
Presentation of the Author:
Anthony J. Grubbs is Assistant Professor of Spanish Literature and Culture 
in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Michigan State University. 
His research currently centers on early modern Spanish theater, hagiographical 
drama, performance studies, and theater history. His publications have 
appeared in such journals as Bulletin of the Comediantes, Comedia Performance, 
Catalan Review, and Hispanófila. 

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ISBN: 978-1-931948-95-1
2010

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A 30% discount will be extended to each and any member of the Comedias List 
ordering this book directly by email to unprsouth at aol.com (indicate in your 
message: Comedia List 30% Discount). I wish you all a good reading of this 
important pioneering and challenging book.
Cordially,

Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns
Director
University Press of the South
Winner of the 2009 US Commerce Association Best in Publishing Award
www.unprsouth.com
Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde
www.punouveaumonde.com   
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