eCommons

 

Persistence of Folly: On the Origins of German Dramatic Literature

Other Titles

Abstract

Joel B. Lande’s Persistence of Folly challenges the accepted account of the origins of German theater by focusing on the misunderstood figure of the fool, whose spontaneous and impish jest captivated audiences, critics, and playwrights from the late sixteenth through the early nineteenth century. Lande radically expands the scope of literary historical inquiry, showing that the fool was not a distraction from attempts to establish a serious dramatic tradition in the German language. Instead, the fool was both a fixture on the stage and a nearly ubiquitous theme in an array of literary critical, governmental, moral-philosophical, and medical discourses, figuring centrally in broad-based efforts to assign laughter a proper time, place, and proportion in society. Persistence of Folly reveals the fool as a cornerstone of the dynamic process that culminated in the works of Lessing, Goethe, and Kleist. By reorienting the history of German theater, Lande’s work conclusively shows that the highpoint of German literature around 1800 did not eliminate irreverent jest in the name of serious drama, but instead developed highly refined techniques for integrating the comic tradition of the stage fool.

Journal / Series

Volume & Issue

Description

Sponsorship

Date Issued

2018-12-15

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Keywords

German Literature History & Critcisim; Plays & Playwrights; Theater; Comic Tradition; 1500 to 1800 Literary Studies

Location

Effective Date

Expiration Date

Sector

Employer

Union

Union Local

NAICS

Number of Workers

Committee Chair

Committee Co-Chair

Committee Member

Degree Discipline

Degree Name

Degree Level

Related Version

Related DOI

Related To

Related Part

Based on Related Item

Has Other Format(s)

Part of Related Item

Related To

Related Publication(s)

Link(s) to Related Publication(s)

References

Link(s) to Reference(s)

Previously Published As

Government Document

ISBN

9781501727108 (print hardcover)
9781501727115 (print paperback)
9781501727139 (epub)
9781501727122 (PDF ebook)

ISMN

ISSN

Other Identifiers

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Types

book

Accessibility Feature

reading order; structural navigation; display transformability

Accessibility Hazard

none

Accessibility Summary

"Accessibility Feature(s)" apply only to the EPUB file.

Link(s) to Catalog Record