A new book on Max Frisch, Bertolt Brecht, Thornton Wilder, etc. and the Epic Theater

[Peter Yang]

Dear librarians and friends of theater:

A new book on Max Frisch and his "Chinese Wall" is scheduled to appear
in October 2000. The title of the book is "Play is Play: Theatrical
Illusion in Max Frisch's Chinese Wall and 'Epic' Plays by Brecht,
Wilder, Hazelton, and Li." This book might be of interest to some of you
or patrons of your library.

Synopsis:
This book takes a close look at plays by Max Frisch and other
playwrights that critics commonly attribute to the "epic theater." It
sheds new light on the aesthetic dynamics of this theater.

As one of the closest disciples of Brecht and Wilder, Frisch created in
his "Chinese Wall" a play, in which the narrator and other characters
supposedly destroy dramatic illusions by means of their appeals to the
audience, their distance from other dramatic characters, and their
temporal manipulation of dramatic events.

This book reexamines classical examples of “epic” plays to demonstrate
that the so-called “epic” theater goes in fact far beyond being
narrative, historical, distancing, and alienating. Just as in plays by
other “epic” dramatists, the dramatic illusion in Frisch's play is far
from being eliminated. Rather, it is intensified by an additional, yet
different kind of, gripping illusion, a “theatrical illusion,” or an
illusory theatrical “reality,” which involves the audience to the
highest extent and with which the audience can hardly refuse to
identify. The book concludes that the success of “epic” plays results
from their characteristics as “theatrical” plays with modern
multidimensional perspectives as opposed to neoclassic “dramatic” ones
with a monolithic perspective.

Author: Peter Yang
ISBN: 0-7618-1808-1
Publisher: University Press of America
Pages: 174
Price: $27.50 (20% discount for any prepublication order, the discounted
price is $22)
Time of Publication: October 2000

If you or your library would like to order this book, please complete
the following order form (Please note: 1. If you pay by check, please
make the check payable to: University Press of America 2. You or your
library will not be charged until the book is shipped.)

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and send the completed form using one of the following ways:

     1. Fax this order form to (216)561-0836, 1-800-338-4550 or
717-794-3803), or 
     2. E-mail pjy2 at po.cwru.edu, or 
     3. Mail this completed order form to: 
         Peter Yang 
         Department of Modern Languages and Literatures 
         Case Western Reserve University 
         Guilford House 307 
         Cleveland, OH 44120
        Or
         University Press of America, Inc. 
         4720 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706, or
     4. Order online: http://dmll.cwru.edu/pyang/bookorders.html

Sincerely,

Peter Yang