Includes Part 1, Books, Group 1, Nos. 1-155 (March - December, 1934)

The West has a long and rich dramatic tradition, and its dramatic works typically reflect the social and political concerns of playwrights and spectators. This book surveys the Western dramatic tradition from Ancient Greece to modern America. Included are chapters on great eras of drama, such as the Renaissance; national theatres, such as the theatres of Latin America, Ireland, and Poland; important theatrical movements, such as musical theatre and African American drama; and influential theatre styles, such as realism, expressionism, and surrealism. Entries are written by leading authorities and cite works for further reading. Students of literature and drama will appreciate the book for its convenient overview of the Western theatrical tradition, while students of history and social studies will welcome its illumination of different cultures and traditions. Designed for students, the book overviews Western drama from Ancient Greece to modern America. Included are chapters on great eras of drama, such as the Renaissance; national theatres, such as the theatres of Latin America, Ireland, and Poland; important theatrical movements, such as musical theatre and African American drama; and influential theatre styles, such as realism, expressionism, and surrealism. Each chapter is written by an expert contributor and offers an extended consideration of its topic and cites works for further reading. Students of drama and literature will value the book for its exploration of the Western theatrical tradition, while students of history and social studies will welcome its illumination of different cultures and traditions.

Themes in Drama brings together articles and review about the dramatic and theatrical activity of a wide range of cultures and periods.

Many scholars have written about eighteenth-century English novels, but no one really knows who read them. This study provides historical data on the provincial reading publics for various forms of fiction - novels, plays, chapbooks, children's books, and magazines. Archival records of Midland booksellers based in five market towns and selling printed matter to over thirty-three hundred customers between 1744 and 1807 form the basis for new information about who actually bought and borrowed different kinds of fiction in eighteenth-century provincial England. This book thus offers the first solid demographic information about actual readership in eighteenth-century provincial England, not only about the class, profession, age, and sex of readers but also about the market of available fiction from which they made their choices - and some speculation about why they made the choices they did. Contrary to received ideas, men in the provinces were the principal customers for eighteenth-century novels, including those written by women. Provincial customers preferred to buy rather than borrow fiction, and women preferred plays and novels written by women - women's works would have done better had women been the principal consumers. That is, demand for fiction (written by both men and women) was about equal for the first five years, but afterward the demand for women's works declined. Both men and women preferred novels with identifiable authors to anonymous ones, however, and both boys and men were able to cross gender lines in their reading. Goody Two-Shoes was one of the more popular children's books among Rugby schoolboys, and men read the Lady's Magazine. These and other findings will alter the way scholars look at the fiction of the period, the questions asked, and the histories told of it.