The English Mystery Plays

The English Mystery Plays
Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Total Pages : 452
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0520040813
ISBN-13 : 9780520040816
Rating : 4/5 (13 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The English Mystery Plays by : Rosemary Woolf

Download or read book The English Mystery Plays written by Rosemary Woolf and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1980-01-01 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This important new study of the English mystery plays has a twofold purpose. It is concerned to investigate the antecedents of the four extant cycles and to demonstrate the dramatic value of the plays themselves The opening and concluding chapters place the plays in their historical context by discussing on the one hand the emergence and achievements of genuine religious drama (as opposed to liturgical drama) in the twelfth century and on the other the changes in taste that threw the plays into disrepute in the sixteenth century. The man part of the book analyzes the plays in detail, considering the iconographic and theological traditions that guided the dramatists in their treatment of biblical subject-matter, and also looking at the Continental drama of the time to find out what other dramatic possibilities were open to writers in the Middle Ages. -- From publisher's description.


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