Clowns, Fools and Picaros

Popular Forms in Theatre, Fiction and Film
Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-90-420-2340-6
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 43, 234 Seiten, Format (B × H): 150 mm x 220 mm, Gewicht: 376 g

Reihe: At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries

By its very nature the clown, as represented in art, is an interdisciplinary phenomenon. In whichever artform it appears – fiction, drama, film, photography or fine art – it carries the symbolic association of its usage in popular culture, be it ritual festivities, street theatre or circus. The clown, like its extended family of fools, jesters, picaros and tricksters, has a variety of functions all focussed around its status and image of being “other.” Frequently a marginalized figure, it provides the foil for the shortcomings of dominant discourse or the absurdities of human behaviour.
Clowns, Fools and Picaros represents the latest research on the clown, bringing together for the first time studies from four continents: Europe, America, Africa and Asia. It attempts to ascertain commonalities, overlaps and differences between artistic expressions of the “clownesque” from these various continents and genres, and above all, to examine the role of the clown in our cultures today.
This volume is of interest for scholars of political and comic drama, film and visual art as well as scholars of comparative literature and anthropology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Robb, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft Theatergeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Theaterwissenschaft Theatertheorie, Ästhetik des Theaters, Theaterkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse

Inhaltsverzeichnis

David ROBB: Introduction
Robert CHEESMOND: Where the Antic Sits
Faye RAN: Modern Tragicomedy and the Fool
Ashley TOBIAS: The Postmodern Theatre Clown
Rüdiger GÖRNER: Nietzsche and the Praise of Masks
Maxim Leonid WEINTRAUB: Clowning Around at the Limits of Representation: On Fools, Fetishes and Bruce Naumann’s Clown Torture
Barbara LEWIS: An American Circus: the Lynch Victim as Clown
Kayode Gboyega KOFOWOROLA: The Court Jester in Nigerian Drama
Ron JENKINS: “Fratello Arlecchino”: Clowns, Kings, and Bombs in Bali
Stephen KNAPPER: Scaramouche: The Mask and the Millenium
Des O’RAWE: The Cinema of Masks: Commedia dell ‘Arte and Jean Renoir’s The Golden Coach
David ROBB: From Nestroy to Wenzel & Mensching: Carnivalesque Revolutionaries in the German-Speaking Theatrical Tradition
Marina KOTZAMANI: Karlos Koun, Karaghiozis and The Birds: Aristophanes as Popular Theatre
Stephen LLANO: The Clown as Social Critic: Kerouac’s Vision
Bernhard MALKMUS: Picaresque Narratology: Lazarillo de Tormes and Edgar Hilsenrath’s Der Nazi und der Friseur

Über Autor(innen)

David Robb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures and Performing Arts at the Queen’s University of Belfast. He developed an interest in theatrical clowning while researching his PhD on the East Berlin cabaret duo Wenzel & Mensching, who integrated aspects of commedia dell’arte into their political song act. David Robb’s book Zwei Clowns im Lande des verlorenen Lachens: Das Liedertheater Wenzel & Mensching was published in 1998. He is a specialist in German political song and has recently published the book Protest Song in East and West Germany since the 1960s. He is also an experienced songwriter and performing musician.