John Gay’s <i>The Beggar’s Opera</i> 1728-2004

Adaptations and Re-Writings
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-90-420-2113-6
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 105, 347 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 689 g

Reihe: Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft

When Richard Steele remarked that the greatest Evils in human Society are such as no Law can come at, he was not able to forsee the spectacular success of John Gay's satire of society, the administration of law and crime, politics, the Italian opera and other topics. Gay's The Beggar's Opera, with its mixture of witty dialogue and popular songs, was imitated by 18th century writers, criticized by those on the seats of power, but remained a favourite of the English theatre public ever since.

With N. Playfair's 1920 revival and B. Brecht's and K. Weill's 1928 Dreigroschenoper, Gay's play has been a starting-point for dramatists such as V. Havel (Zebrácká opera, 1975), W. Soyinka (Opera Wonyosi, 1977), Ch. Buarque (Ópera do Malandro, 1978), D. Fo (L'opera dello sghignazzo, 1981), A. Ayckbourn (A Chorus of Disapproval, 1984), as well as others such as Latouche, Hacks, Fassbinder, Dear, Wasserman, and Lepage.

Apart from contributions by international scholars analysing the above-named plays, the editors' introduction covers other dramatists that have payed hommage to Gay.

This interdisciplinary collection of essays is of particular interest for scholars working in the field of drama/theatre studies, the eighteenth century, contemporary drama, postcolonial studies, and politics and the stage.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Böker, Uwe

Detmers, Ines

Giovanopoulos, Anna-Christina

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikgattungen Opernmusik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Calendar of Important Adaptations and Re-Writings 1920–2004
Uwe BÖKER, Ines DETMERS and Anna-Christina GIOVANOPOULOS: From Gay to Brecht and Beyond: Imitation and Re-Writing of The Beggar’s Opera – 1728 to 2004
Uwe BÖKER: John Gays The Beggar’s Opera und die sozialhistorischen Kontexte: Satire, Kriminalität, Ballade, Oper, Kommerzialisierung
Ian GALLAGHER: The Beggar’s Opera and its Criminal Law Context
Horst HÖHNE: Die Fortsetzung der Beggar’s Opera: Polly (1728)
Anna-Christina GIOVANOPOULOS: Robert Walpole und Jonathan Wild: Die satirischen Bezugspersonen von John Gays The Beggar’s Opera
Frank ENGELMANN: A Late Eighteenth-Century Ballad Opera and John Wilkes: The Bow-Street Opera (1773)
Klaus SCHUHMACHER: Ekstasen der Sachlichkeit: Zur Dreigroschenoper (1928) von Bertolt Brecht und Kurt Weill
Uwe BÖKER: John Gays The Beggar’s Opera und Václav Havels Zebrácká opera (1975)
Wumi RAJI: Opera Wonyosi (1977): Strategies of a Postcolonial Response to a Western Operatic Drama
Kathrin SARTINGEN: Rewriting als produktive Differenz: Chico Buarque de Hollandas Ópera do Malandro (1978) als brasilianische Wiederkehr von John Gays The Beggar’s Opera
Christoph Oliver MAYER: Italiens Spaßmacher schlägt wieder zu: Dario Fos L’opera dello sghignazzo (1981) als provokatives Rewriting der Bettleroper
Anja MÜLLER: Alan Ayckbourn’s Beggar’s Opera as A Chorus of Disapproval (1984)
Contributors

Über Autor(innen)

Uwe Böker has been Professor of English Literature at the Technische Universität Dresden till his retirement in 2006. His fields of research include the history of genres, the relationship between crime and literature as well as the history of publishing and bookselling.

Ines Detmers is currently doing research on contemporary British women’s poetry, narratology, and the theory of genre, teaching English literature at the Technische Universität; she is also affiliated with the Gießener Graduierten Kolleg (GGK).

Anna-Christina Giovanopoulos received her Ph.D. from Dresden in 2000 with a dissertation on American Literature in the GDR. She now teaches at the Dresden English Department. Her main areas of research are censorship (eighteenth and twentieth centuries), with a special focus on the public sphere, legal culture and literature.