LITERARY CRITICISM / THEATRE

TRAGEDY AND METATHEATRE

A New View of Dramatic Form

Lionel Abel's original Metatheatre, now published in the company of new essays, has inspired a whole generation of playwrights and critics since it first appeared in 1963. Indeed, to insiders the very word "metatheatre," coined by Lionel Abel, has become as familiar as the plays the author uses to exemplify his theory.

And if anyone thinks Lionel Abel has tempered his style be forewarned: As in his opening critique of those he considers to be playing "language games," his criticism remains as piercing as ever.

"Metatheatre has always implied an interest in a changing world, rather than an insistence on inherited forms. ...For this reason, Abel's term metatheatre will remain a central category for understanding not only modern theatre but also contemporary theatre, and for the same reason [this] collection of essays should be treated as [both] timely and important."
—from the Introduction

Praise for Metatheatre

"[Mr Abel] makes a good case for his theory which must be given very careful consideration. Highly recommended for literature, drama, and theater collections."
—Library Journal

"[Metatheare is] clean-cut, pugnacious.... and, in the main, absolutely right.... No English or American writer on the theatre has done anything as interesting or sophisticated."
—Susan Sontag

Lionel Abel (1910—2001), a distinguished essayist and critic, was also an Obie-winning playwright. His plays include Absalom, The Death of Odysseus, The Pretender, and The Wives. He was Professor Emeritus in the English Department at the State University of New York, Buffalo.