<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=2 PTSIZE=10 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="6">Dear colleagues,<BR>
<BR>
It is my pleasure to let you know about the new book by Dr. Anthony J. Grubbs, The Playwright's Perspective. Innovative Dramaturgy and its Poetics in Early Modern Spain (New Orleans: University Press of the South, 2010). <BR>
Peruse the digital page of his book at:<BR>
http://www.unprsouth.com/playwright%20perspective.htm <BR>
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<B>Presentation of the Book:</B><BR>
The relationship between Golden Age theater theory and practice, illustrated through the study of representative works by six playwrights, is the topic of this study. The impact of practice on theory is as irrefutable as the impact of theory on practice. In fact, many prominent playwrights wrote treatises (re)affirming their decisions to stray from traditional norms and to create new dramatic art forms. Without exception these defenses were written after the playwright had enjoyed success and introduced his-and, in the case of Golden Age Spain, the theatrical world was overwhelmingly populated by men-particular pioneering contribution to the theater. By examining the ways which theatrical practice was influenced by performance and audience reception, their impact on shaping theatrical theory becomes clear, not only in the well known case of Lope's Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, but throughout sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain. <BR>
Of course, all playwrights continually face the challenge of creating original works for a dynamic and demanding public who must be kept at the forefront when writing a play, since they are the receptors of the message that is transmitted by means of the performance of the dramatic text. This realization, however, does not downplay the importance of the script, but elevates all three aspects: the text, performance, and reception, to equal ground. These factors have led me to concentrate on the connection between performance and reception in this study of early modern Spanish dramatic theory, and although performance and reception can be dealt with in a mutually exclusive manner, it is more feasible to look at them collectively with the dramatic text in the attempt to reproduce the entire dramatic spectacle.<BR>
<B>Presentation of the Author:</B><BR>
Anthony J. Grubbs is Assistant Professor of Spanish Literature and Culture in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Michigan State University. His research currently centers on early modern Spanish theater, hagiographical drama, performance studies, and theater history. His publications have appeared in such journals as Bulletin of the Comediantes, Comedia Performance, Catalan Review, and Hispanófila. <BR>
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ISBN: 978-1-931948-95-1<BR>
2010<BR>
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A 30% discount will be extended to each and any member of the Comedias List ordering this book directly by email to unprsouth@aol.com (indicate in your message: Comedia List 30% Discount). I wish you all a good reading of this important pioneering and challenging book.<BR>
Cordially,<BR>
<BR>
Dr. Alain Saint-Saëns<BR>
Director<BR>
University Press of the South<BR>
Winner of the 2009 US Commerce Association Best in Publishing Award<BR>
www.unprsouth.com<BR>
Presses Universitaires du Nouveau Monde<BR>
www.punouveaumonde.com <BR>
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