Hysteria, Trauma and Melancholia: Performative Maladies in Contemporary Anglophone DramaHysteria, trauma and melancholia have not only become powerful tropes in modern-day culture at large; they are also prominent in the theatre. How do contemporary plays employ these concepts? How does the staging of these 'disorders' affect the aesthetics of the plays? What exchange relations between theory and theatre can be traced? Christina Wald pursues such questions in this new study, establishing the characteristics and concerns of 'The Drama of Hysteria', 'Trauma Drama' and 'The Drama of Melancholia' through in-depth readings of works by playwrights such as Anna Furse, Jerry Johnson, Sarah, Daniels, Phylis Nagy, Claire Dowie, David Auburn, Marina Carr and Sarah Kane. Conceptualising hysteria, trauma and melancholia as 'performative maladies', Wald educes an exciting interaction of theatrical performance, psychiatric and psychoanalytic theory, and the theory of gender performativity. |
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Page 3
... remains inconceivable and inadequate . The employment of trauma as a cultural trope has on the one hand risked its generalisation to the point of meaninglessness , as Ian Hacking laments . To him , trauma has become " a metaphor for ...
... remains inconceivable and inadequate . The employment of trauma as a cultural trope has on the one hand risked its generalisation to the point of meaninglessness , as Ian Hacking laments . To him , trauma has become " a metaphor for ...
Page 21
... remains hidden and possibly unconscious but nonetheless directs gender performances . Conceptualising not only melan- cholia , but also trauma and hysteria as performative maladies , I will argue that also the latter disorders as staged ...
... remains hidden and possibly unconscious but nonetheless directs gender performances . Conceptualising not only melan- cholia , but also trauma and hysteria as performative maladies , I will argue that also the latter disorders as staged ...
Page 59
... remains impossible , as " there is no self that is prior to the convergence or who maintains ' integrity ' prior to its entrance into this conflicted cultural field . There is only a taking up of the tools where they lie , where the ...
... remains impossible , as " there is no self that is prior to the convergence or who maintains ' integrity ' prior to its entrance into this conflicted cultural field . There is only a taking up of the tools where they lie , where the ...
Contents
From termini technici | 10 |
Can performativity materialise as performance? | 17 |
The Drama of Hysteria | 27 |
Copyright | |
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Hysteria, Trauma and Melancholia: Performative Maladies in Contemporary ... C. Wald Limited preview - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
actors actualisation ambivalent argues attempts audiences Augustine Augustine's body Butler Butterfly Kiss Carr's Catherine Catherine's characterises characters Charcot Cleansed concept contemporary critics cultural discourse disorder Dora Dora's Drama of Hysteria Drama of Melancholia Easy Access emphasises Evelyn fantasy father female female hysteria femininity feminism feminist film flashbacks Freud Furse Furse's Gabriel gender norms gender performativity gender theory ghost figure Grace Graham hallucination Herr heteronormative heterosexual highlights homosexual Hystérie ibid identification incestuous Jessica Lily Lily's male hysteria masculinity melan melancholia melancholic incorporation metaphor metonymic Michael Molly Molly's Morrissey's mother narrative notion Oedipus complex original production past patients performative malady play's Portia Coughlan present Proof protagonist psychic psychoanalytic realism reality reinforced relationship repetition compulsion repressed Robert's Royal Court Theatre Salpêtrière scene sexual child abuse Sleeping Nightie stage suggests Theatre Record theatrical performance theory Tinker tion Trauma Drama traumatisation unconscious victim woman