Four Modern European Plays: Reflection and Discussion (Ghosts, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Wait-ing for Godot, Rhinoceros) (Hardbound-2023)

Drama is a literary genre that provides spatial, aural, and visual experiences to both actors and viewers. Inflected by social, economic, and political vicissitudes, dramatic art has evolved into a medium that comments and provides aesthetic pleasure and appraises every domain of human influence. This volume traces the origin of drama, discusses categories of drama and stagecraft, provides a concise description of numerous dramatists from all over the world, and particularises four modern European plays. The discussions of the four plays that have revolutionised drama are uncomplicated and succinct.

The trajectory drawn in this book provides a wide overview of the elements of drama, enunciates theories of drama formulated by dramatists, and elaborates four modern European plays. The book intends to familiarise readers with the features of drama that are influenced by upheavals at specific epochs in the world and associate these changes with the creativity of the dramatists. Moreover, it delineates specific attributes of each play that have influenced the literary arena at different phases of the development of dramatic art. The dramatists included in this study are Henrik Ibsen, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, and Eugene Ionesco whose contributions have revolutionised theatre immensely. The book would definitely serve the interests of the academia and connoisseurs of drama.

Dr. C.G. Shyamala is an Assistant Professor and a Research Supervisor at the Postgraduate Department of English and Research Centre for Comparative Studies, Mercy College, Palakkad, Kerala. A member of the Editorial Board of select national and international journals, she also publishes academic articles, and provides extension lectures on diverse literary subjects. She is a counselor at IGNOU at Thrissur Centre, Kerala, and involves in Distance Learning Programmes of the University of Calicut, and Sree Narayanaguru Open University, Kerala. Her interest in online teaching and learning has made her the course coordinator of two MOOCs of UGC-CEC.