The fossil history of plant life in Antarctica is central to our understanding of the evolution of vegetation through geological time and also plays a key role in reconstructing past configurations of the continents and associated climatic conditions. This book provides the only detailed overview of the development of Antarctic vegetation from the Devonian period to the present day, presenting Earth scientists with valuable insights into the break up of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana. Details of specific floras and ecosystems are provided within the context of changing geological, geographical and environmental conditions, alongside comparisons with contemporaneous and modern ecosystems. The authors demonstrate how palaeobotany contributes to our understanding of the paleoenvironmental changes in the southern hemisphere during this period of Earth history. The book is a complete and up-to-date reference for researchers and students in Antarctic paleobotany and terrestrial paleo
For many people in early modern England the Reformation turned the past into another country: the 'merry world'. Nostalgia for this imaginary time, both widespread and widely contested, was commodified by a burgeoning entertainment industry. This book offers a new perspective on the making of 'Merry England', arguing that it was driven both by the desires of audiences and the marketing strategies of writers, publishers and playing companies. Nostalgia in Print and Performance juxtaposes plays with ballads and pamphlets, just as they were experienced by their first consumers. It argues that these commercial fictions played a central role in promoting and shaping nostalgia. At the same time, the fantasy of the merry world offered a powerfully affective language for conceptualising longing. For playwrights like Shakespeare and others writing for the commercial stage, it became a way to think through the dynamics of audience desire and the aesthetics of repetition.
David Edgar's writings address the most basic questions of how humans organize and govern themselves in modern societies. This study brings together the disciplines of political philosophy and theatre studies to approach the leading British playwright as a political writer and a public social critic. Edgar uses theatre as a powerful tool of public discourse, an aesthetic modality for engaging with and thinking/feeling through the most pressing social issues of the day. In this he is a supreme rationalist: he deploys character, plot and language to explore ideas, to make certain kinds of discursive cases and model hypothetical alternatives. Reinelt and Hewitt analyze twelve of Edgar's most important plays, including Maydays and Pentecost, and also provide detailed discussions of key performances and critical reception to illustrate the playwright's artistic achievement in relation to his contributions as a public figure in British cultural life.
How did the actors for whom Shakespeare wrote his plays make his characters come to life, how did they convey his words? Can modern directors, actors, and even library readers of Shakespeare learn fro
Even though Shakespeare openly dramatizes aristocratic shows in his own plays, the circumstances of early modern performance at court have received relatively little critical attention. With so much written on the playwright's wide and multi-layered audiences, the entertainment of the court itself has too long been dismissed as a secondary issue. This book aims to shed fresh light on the multiple aspects of Shakespearean performances at the Elizabethan and early Stuart courts, considering all forms of drama, music, dance and other entertainment. Taking the specific scenic environment and material conditions of early modern performance into account, the chapters examine both real and dramatized court shows in order to break ground for new avenues of thought. The volume considers how early modern court shows shaped dramatic writing and what they tell us of the aesthetics and politics of the Tudor and Stuart regimes.
Strangeness in Jacobean Drama offers an alternative model for understanding this important period of English dramatic history that moves beyond categories such as 'Shakespeare’s late plays,' 'tragicom
How did Shakespeare's plays sound when they were originally performed? How can we know, and could the original pronunciation ever be recreated? For three days, Shakespeare's Globe presented a production of Romeo and Juliet in original, Shakespearian pronunciation. In an unusual blend of autobiography, narrative, and academic content, David Crystal recounts the unique nature of the experience. He begins by discussing the Globe Theatre's approach to 'original practices', which had dealt with all aspects of Elizabethan stagecraft - except pronunciation. A large section is devoted to the nature of the Early Modern English sound system. There are reports of how the actors coped with the task of learning the pronunciation, how it affected their performances and how the audiences reacted. In this new edition, he reflects on the development of the original pronunciation movement across the world, since the Globe's experiment.
"Jean Genet has emerged in recent years as a key figure in defining and understanding twentieth-century theatre. This timely book, the only introductory text in English to Genet's plays in production,
Jean Genet’s significance within twentieth-century theatre has long been understated. This timely book, the only introductory text in English to Genet’s plays in production, presents an ov
Translation plays a vital role in society – it allows us to share knowledge and enrich our lives through access to other cultures. Translation studies is a rapidly evolving academic discipline, directly impacted by advances in technological aids, and with close connections between theory and practice. Bringing together contributions from internationally-renowned scholars, this Handbook offers an authoritative, up-to-date account of the many facets of this buoyant discipline. It covers different themes, areas of practice and developing trends, and provides an overview of the major sub-fields, and the connections between them. It is organised into six parts covering the nature of translation, its roles in society, its relationships with other disciplines, a selection of its factual genres, a selection of its art-related genres and, finally, its role in history. Comprehensive yet accessible, it is essential reading for students, teachers and scholars of translation studies, modern languag
