- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Messiahs and Machiavellians is an innovative exploration of "modern evil" in works of early- and late-modern theatre, raising issues about ethics, politics, religion, and aesthetics that speak to our present condition.
Paul Corey examines how theatreâwhich expressed a key political dynamic both in the Renaissance and the twentieth centuryâlays open the impulses that instigated modernity and, ultimately, unparalleled levels of violence and destruction. Starting with Albert Camus' Caligula and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, then turning to Machiavelli's Mandragola and Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Corey traces the emergence of two dominant, intertwining features of modern evil: an unrestrained pursuit of power and the utopian desire for perfection.
Corey's imaginative and convincing readings of these plays, based on detailed textual analysis, move beyond the accounts usually offered by literary critics. Drawing on political, theological, and philosophical sourcesâa combination as fertile as it is unusualâCorey's methodology allows him to make keen and subtle arguments about the eschatological nature of modern politics.
Frequently asked questions
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half title
- Title page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- CONTENTS
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS AND TEXTUAL NOTES
- Preface: Revaluating Modernity
- Introduction: Theatre and Evil in the Shadow of the âDeath Eventâ
- Part 1: Evil inTwentieth-Century Theatre
- Part 2: Evil in Renaissance Theatre
- Conclusion
- NOTES
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- INDEX