Dramatic Realism, since its birth in the hectic late years of the nineteenth century, gave theatrical and thematic energy to the interaction between a play's text and the way that it looked on the stage. Characters began to find themselves in rooms and settings that played an active and changing role in the drama, and their dialogue and reactions evolved in time with these changes. As life itself became more elaborate during the 20th Century, so these rooms were invaded and then defined by the outside world. Fred Miller Robinson's enjoyable and stimulating essays on this enduring genre tackle the dreams and anxieties of the middles classes of the Industrial Revolution - dreams of domestic comfort and refuge, and anxieties about how entrapping that comfort could be. Moving from Ibsen to Chekhov and onwards into later plays in which the reality of 'Realism' comes under scrutiny, this is a book to dip into before a performance or to study during a class.

Dramatic Realism, since its birth in the hectic late years of the nineteenth century, gave theatrical and thematic energy to the interaction between a play's text and the way that it looked on the stage. Characters began to find themselves in rooms and settings that played an active and changing role in the drama, and their dialogue and reactions evolved in time with these changes. As life itself became more elaborate during the 20th Century, so these rooms were invaded and then defined by the outside world. Fred Miller Robinson's enjoyable and stimulating essays on this enduring genre tackle the dreams and anxieties of the middles classes of the Industrial Revolution - dreams of domestic comfort and refuge, and anxieties about how entrapping that comfort could be. Moving from Ibsen to Chekhov and onwards into later plays in which the reality of 'Realism' comes under scrutiny, this is a book to dip into before a performance or to study during a class.

Reflects a new understanding of modernism by following the fortunes of a single item of fashion.
"When Fred Miller Robinson tugs the bowler from the closet in "The Man in the Bowler Hat: His History and Iconography," a wealth of cultural and social baggage comes tumbling out after it."--"Esquire"
"Entertaining and enlightening. . . . A scholarly, thoughtful, and well-documented cultural critique."--"Journal of Popular Culture"
"A hundred years of Western culture pulled out of a bowler hat--it's quite a trick, and Robinson accomplishes it with considerable flourish."--Roger Shattuck, Boston University
"An attempt to penetrate the bowler's significance in art, literature, and life. . . . Robinson] has ferreted out plenty of curious and varied information, he has some nice observations of detail, and he offers a good deal to enlighten and amuse."--"New Yorker"
"A witty, well-written, scrupulously researched book that is a wonderful fusion of genres: social history, cultural history, and something that falls between belles lettres and fiction."--Dore Ashton, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Originally published in 1993.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.