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Hysteria, trauma and melancholia : performative maladies in contemporary anglophone drama / Christina Wald.

Van Pelt Library PR635.S38 W35 2007
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Wald, Christina, 1976-
Contributor:
Hazel M. Hussong Fund.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Drama.
Hysteria.
Depressive Disorder.
Literature, Modern.
Medicine in Literature.
Hysteria in literature.
Melancholy in literature.
Psychic trauma in literature.
English drama--History and criticism.
English drama.
Medical Subjects:
Drama.
Hysteria.
Depressive Disorder.
Literature, Modern.
Medicine in Literature.
Physical Description:
viii, 289 pages ; 23 cm
Place of Publication:
Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Summary:
Hysteria, trauma and melancholia have not only become powerful tropes in modern-day culture at large; they are also prominent in the theatre. How do contemporary plays employ these concepts? How does the staging of these 'disorders' affect the aesthetics of the plays? What exchange relations between theory and theatre can be traced? Christina Wald pursues such questions in this new study, establishing the characteristics and concerns of 'The Drama of Hysteria', 'Trauma Drama' and 'The Drama of Melancholia' through in-depth readings of works by playwrights such as Anna Furse, Terry Johnson, Sarah Daniels, Phyllis Nagy, Claire Dowie, David Auburn, Marina Carr and Sarah Kane. Conceptualising hysteria, trauma and melancholia as 'performative maladies', Wald educes an exciting interaction of theatrical performance, psychiatric and psychoanalytic theory, and the theory of gender performativity.
Contents:
Introduction: Theatrical Performance, Gender Performativity, and the Drama of Performative Malady 1
Hysteria, trauma, and melancholia as cultural tropes 1
Hysteria, trauma, and melancholia as performative maladies 4
Performance and performativity: From termini technici to umbrella terms 10
The theatre metaphor in Butler's performativity theory 13
Can performativity materialise as performance? 17
1 The Drama of Hysteria 27
Hysteria: Theory and theatre 27
Anna Furse: Augustine (Big Hysteria) (1991) 42
Kim Morrissey: Dora: A Case of Hysteria (1993) 60
Terry Johnson: Hysteria or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis (1993) 75
Hysteria as performative malady 89
2 Trauma Drama 93
Trauma concepts, trauma culture 93
Victoria Hardie: Sleeping Nightie (1989) 102
Sarah Daniels: Beside Herself (1990) 114
Phyllis Nagy: Butterfly Kiss (1994) 128
Claire Dowie: Easy Access (for the Boys) (1998) 139
Trauma as performative malady 156
3 The Drama of Melancholia 161
Concepts of melancholia: From black bile to melancholic incarnation 161
David Auburn: Proof (2000) 171
Marina Carr: Portia Coughlan (1996) 184
Sarah Kane: Cleansed (1998) 198
Melancholia as performative malady 212
Conclusion: The Drama of Performative Malady 215.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-281) and index.
Local Notes:
Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Hazel M. Hussong Fund.
ISBN:
9780230547124
0230547125
OCLC:
137312993

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