Examines the Shakespearean tragedy in the light of its poetic and dramatic content

The Question of Hamlet

Levin, Harry

Oxford University Press

Refractions: Essays In Comparitive Literature by Levin, Harry. 8vo.

Refractions Essays in Comparative Literature

Oxford Univ. Pr.

"The author explores this tradition in depth and defines it with a breadth of vision, a dynamic vigor and freedom rarely paralleled today....His method, flexible, generous, humane in the best sense of the word, eschews pedantry, dogma, useless theorizing and scholastic argumentation."--The New York Times Book Review. "I wish to make it clear that The Gates of Horn represents an outstanding critical accomplishment."--Saturday Review. In the Odyssey, Homer describes two gates of the imagination: one of ivory through which fictitious dreams pass, and the other of horn, through which nothing but the truth may pass. Realism is the type of literature that passes through the horn, and in this significant study of the genre Levin examines a major form of Realism--the French novel--and focuses on five of its masters--Stendahl, Balzac, Flaubert, Zola, and Proust. Now available in paperback, Levin's study is a veritable reconstruction of the artistic and intellectual life of a nation.

The Gates of Horn: A Study of Five French Realists

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Refractions: Essays in Comparative Literature

British & Irish

Myth of the Golden Age in the Renaissance (Galaxy Books) [Jun 01, 1972] Levin, Harry

Myth of the Golden Age in the Renaissance

334p cloth, dustjacket, appendix, index, notes in blue ink to back endpaper, still a very good copy

Shakespeare and the Revolution of the Times: Perspectives and Commentaries

Sixteen essays written during the past twelve years examine Shakespeare's plays in terms of Elizabethan and modern times and of changing critical interpretation and explicate eight individual plays.

Harry Levin is one of the major literary critics in America. This book is a brilliant and original study of the whole world of comedy, concentrating on playwrights through the centuries, from Aristophanes and Plautus in classical times to Bernard Shaw and Bertolt Brecht and their recent successors. Theories about the subject of comedy have abounded, but they have generally been divorced from theatrical practice. The alternative--discussions of plays and playwrights, without defining or analyzing the problems they have in common--is also unsatisfying. Moreover, many critics, in trying to make the subject of humor "respectable" have treated the subject humorlessly, while others have succumbed to the temptation to be flip. Levin views the comic repertory as a richly variegated but broadly unified whole and provides a synthesis of theory and practice plus a further synthesis of theories heretofore regarded as conflicting. He isolated two fundamental aspects of comedy: one centers on the ludicrous (irresponsible, irreverent) "playboy" whom we laugh with, and the other on the ridiulous (pretentious, forbidding) "killjoy", whom we laugh at. Levin traces the dialectical interplay of these components throughout history and across various cultures and media. He places strong emphasis on such major dramatists as Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Molière, and William Congreve. He comments on the nature and theory of comedy as enunciated by such famous figures as George Meredith and Henri Bergson, and includes essays on such related ideas as humor, satire, and games; but the emphasis throughout is on the plays and on the stage, with incidental reference to comedians like Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. About the Author: Harry Levin is Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Harvard University. His many books include The Question of Hamlet and Shakespeare and the Revolution of the Times.

Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy

Dramas & Plays

Harry Levin--one of America's major literary critics--offers a brilliant and original study of the whole world of comedy, concentrating on playwrights through the centuries, from Aristophanes and Plautus in classical times to Bernard Shaw and Bertolt Brecht and their recent successors. Viewing the comic repertory as a richly varied yet broadly unified whole, Levin provides a synthesis of theories and practice. Isolating two fundamental aspects of comedy--the ludicrous and irreverent "playboy," whom we laugh with, and the ridiculous and forbidding "killjoy," whom we laugh at--he traces the dialectical interplay of these components throughout history and across various cultures and media. While mainly focusing on the plays and the stage, with discussions of such major dramatists as Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Molière, and William Congreve, Levin also includes essays on such related topics as humor, satire, and games.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Levin, Harry. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Levin, Harry

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Levin, Harry. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Question of Hamlet

Refractions Essays in Comparative Literature

The Gates of Horn: A Study of Five French Realists

Refractions: Essays in Comparative Literature

The Question of Hamlet

Myth of the Golden Age in the Renaissance

Shakespeare and the Revolution of the Times: Perspectives and Commentaries

Shakespeare and the Revolution of the Times: Perspectives and Commentaries

Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy

Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy