The NHB Drama Classi series presents the worlds greatest plays in affordable; highly readable editions for students; actors and theatregoers. The hallmarks of the series are accessible introductions (focussing on the plays theatrical and historical background; together with an author biography; key dates and suggestions for further reading) and the complete text; uncluttered with footnotes. The translations; by leading experts in the field; are accurate and above all actable. The editions of English-language plays include a glossary of unusual words and phrases to aid understanding. A Dolls House is Ibsens revolutionary tale of Noras awakening to her need for a life of her own. Translated and introduced by Kenneth McLeish.
#3845368 in eBooks 2014-10-09 2014-10-09File Name: B00OC6YHUC
Review
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Len Tomakaexcellent33 of 52 people found the following review helpful. Trying to End without Religion or Truth.By WillAs a retired philosopher of religion; I find this book appealing--especially its emphasis on the glorious; soaring; wordless theme with which the Ring ends; and also its finding parallels in the Judgment theme in Mozarts Don Giovanni and in Shakespeares Cordelia in King Lear. Following Nietzsche; however; the authors reject Wagners last opera; Parsifal; and apparently all religion--Christian; Buddhist; etc. Strange that philosophers that can grasp the meaning in a mytho-poetic work like the Ring reduce religious tradition to simple; literalist fundamentalism!The Ring; according to the authors; was written under the influence of Feuerbachs secular humanist optimism; complicated by Wagners own experience of the failure of worldly political utopianism. The ending symbolizes the "death of God;" not merely the death of the Idols; as theologians would have it. The atheist pessimism of Schopenhauer came to seem more realistic to Wagner (with his last opera Parsifal??); but not before he finished the Ring with a ringing affirmation of life and love.In trying to articulate how it is that; in spite of defeat and death; "not everything has been lost;" they come surprisingly close; but are finally blocked by the ghost of logical positivism. In Mozarts Don Giovanni; the authors see Nietzsches Ubermensch; a figure literally beyond good and evil; and not subject to any truth or negative judgment beyond the conflicting prejudices of finite creatures. In the judgment of the authors; the Commendatore; and the transcendent Judgment he symbolizes; is laughable. So also with positive judgment; the final theme of the Ring cannot be "redeemed by Love;" but merely "triumph and vindication of Brunnhilde." (In whose eyes? If all judgment and truth are relative? If all who judge are temporary; finite; fallible creatures? If there is no Ideal Observer?)12 of 12 people found the following review helpful. The Tragedy of Wotan and His ChildrenBy R. AlbinWritten by 2 distinguished philosophers who are also amateur musicians; this book is a very interesting exploration of Wagners great Ring cycle. Kitcher and Schacht argue that the Ring is an extended exploration of the existensial dilemma of establishing meaning in life. The analysis is based on a close examination of the libretto; Wagners stage directions; the music itself; and what we know of Wagners intentions and thought during the prolonged gestation of the Ring cycle. This is a particularly sympathetic analysis of Wotan; whom Kitcher and Schacht present as struggling to establish a meaningful; better; and lawful world. The alternatives to Wotans efforts are the beautiful but heedless natural world of the Rhinemaidens and the corruption and brutality of characters like Alberich and Hunding. Wotans efforts; however; are ultimately self-defeating; something that Wotan himself appreciates as a tragic destiny. Wotans greatest successor is his daughter Brunnhilde; the Valkyrie become human whose ability to combine what Kitcher and Schacht describe as empathic love with eros constitutes a redemptive alternative to Wotans struggle to establish rational; lawful order. But Brunnhilde also fails and the plot of the Ring seems to point to unavoidable failure to wrest meaningfullness from the universe. Wagners incredibly powerful music; however; indicates that it is Brunnhildes efforts to establish meaningfulness that vindicates human existence.This is a very ambitious undertaking and my brief description doesnt do justice to the careful development of the authors analysis. I certainly found it convincing. If anything; Kitcher and Schacht may not go far enough. Their analysis emphasizes human construction of meaning. Wagner certainly thought of himself as a "maker" (kunstler) with a very expansive and typically Romantic view of the constructive power of art. The authors establish the Ring as a sophisticated and powerful allegory-analysis of the effort to establish meaning in life but this can also be seen as an allegory of Wagners craft.
