Alan Ayckbourn’s "Season’s Greetings" in the Comic TraditionSeminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, University of Marburg (Institut f r Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: SE: "British Drama from the 1950s to the Present", 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This term paper deals with the placement of Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings in the English comic tradition. Therefore, I will first put Ayckbourn's play within the historical context of the new drama, and subsequently define the term "comedy". Then, I will prove my thesis that Season's Greetings matches both conventionality and innovation with regard to comedy. In this way, I will also investigate in how far Season's Greetings as comedy contains both farcical and tragic elements, and suits other subgenres of comedy, too. Likewise, I will analyse how Ayckbourn makes use of the comic in Season's Greetings, and discuss if he continues the comic tradition with a new emphasis with regard to the assumption that he, like Shakespeare, writes plays for the spectator rather than the reader, among other things. In the conclusion, I will recap and reconsider the principal theses of my term paper and give my own diagnosis about Ayckbourn's drama. My thesis matters in so far that "the continuing life that ...] comedies have ...] justifies our study of the genre ...]". Besides, English comedy has "the longest, most continuous generic tradition in Western literature", in which its tendency to the meta-theatrical achieves an awareness of the comic tradition onstage (cf. Leggatt 2). Anyway, it is meaningful that serious issues of everyday life are treated in a comic way. |
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Alan Ayckbourn’s "Season’s Greetings" in the Comic Tradition: An ... Oliver Baum, M.A. Limited preview - 2009 |
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absurd Accordingly achieves action Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s appearance audience audiovisual Ayckbourn Ayckbourn’s comedy Ayckbourn’s drama Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings became behaviour Belinda Bernard’s Billington Boireau British cause century characters Christmas claim Clive combines comic effects conclusion contains Contemporary continues contrast conventional Cornish Cuddon deals definitions of comedy direction domestic drama dramatists Dukore Eddie elements ending English comedy English comic tradition example fact failure farce farcical Finally follies forms Furthermore give GRIN hand Harvey Harvey’s Historical Context Holt Hornby humble Hunt indicate indifference Ketels laughter Leggatt Likewise literary living London love affair marriage matches means menace middle-class misunderstandings Moreover Müller never Neville opinion Page painful Phyllis play Plett plot political Present primarily probably problems recurring regard Revels revived satirical Scarborough Similarly situation social stage stems suits technical term theatre theatrical theme things tragedy tragic tragic elements treated Trussler Verlag wordplays writes Zimmerman