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5 comments about Ghosts (Dover Thrift Editions).

1. "Ghosts", while not as famous as Ibsen's "A Doll's House", is clearly an interesting piece of writing. Nobody denies that. It is an interesting book to analyze, it's a quick read, but very deep, and it leaves a very strong impression on you.
   
   "Ghosts" is in a sense, like "A Doll's House", about something that while still frowned upon today, is much more acceptable. In "Ghosts" there is the theme of the "sins of fathers", and the father's sins are brought to light. Mrs. Alving has been keeping secrets for a very long time, and here is where, through her ghosts, she reveals them.
   
   Well, perhaps it's not as simple as that. The plot is intriguing, the plot twists are surprising, and the ending is disturbingly good. Ibsen created a fascinating story and masterpiece when he wrote "Ghosts", and it's absolutely superb. I highly recommend reading this play to anyone, especially if you liked Ibsen's other works.
   
   Note: I don't suggest buying this play alone in a book like this, though. You might as well buy a book with several of Ibsens plays for the same amount of money, and then you'll get "A Doll's House" too.



2. Though Ibsen is a little bit dated, more so than his successor, Knut Hamsen, he is still one of the greatest minds to come out of Norway and is arguably the father of the modern drama - and also to some extent, the father of the modern novel. He initiated the style which was later taken up by Franz Kafka, Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer), Roman Payne (Crepuscule). Ghosts is a quick read. Dover Thrift Editions makes the price definitely worth it. A must-read once in your life. Highly recommended.



3. I chose this book to read and analyse a couple of years ago. It seemed to have simple meaning, but the more I tried to analyse, the more outstanding I found the book, and far from simple.
   Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
   Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone.



4. I chose this book to read and analyse a couple of years ago. It seemed to have simple meaning, but the more I tried to analyse, the more outstanding I found the book, and far from simple.
   Helen Alving is a widow and is keeping a secret. One day she tells her friend Manders and he's quite shocked. It all has to do with some money from her dead husband that she doesn't want her son to have. Oswald, her son, comes home from abroad with very sad news. He is ill, and there isn't a cure for him. When Mrs. Alving is told that it was most likely inherited, she tells her son the secret too, and that changes his view on his father. As the book goes on, the intriques grow bigger...
   Ibsen is probably more known for his play "A Doll House", but this one is just as great. He was very critical of the society and most, if not all, of his books often has a somewhat hidden story where he debates social matters and also morals. He use symbols and mostly contrasts to give the play a certain atmosphare and meaning. I believe this is one of Ibsen's greatest plays and strongly recommend it to anyone.



5. Although Henrik Ibsen is the first great modern dramatist, his play "Ghosts" ("Gengangere") bears a strong similarity to ancient Greek drama, where the "tragic flaw" of the protagonist lives on in his children. However, in this story the curse on the Alving family has a medical basis. Published in 1881 but not performed until the next year because of its controversial subject matter, "Ghosts" deals with the impact of congenital venereal disease on a family. "Ghosts" strongly reflects Ibsen's desire to attack hypocrisy and conventional morality and caused even more of a furor that his previous drama, "A Doll's House."

   Helen Alving is building an orphanage as a memorial to her late husband and the night before the dedication she confesses to her old friend Parson Manders that her husband had been a "degenerate," and she is building the orphanage using her husband's "dirty" money so only her own money will pass on to her son, Oswald, who has just returned from living abroad. But then Oswald confesses he has a debilitating, incurable disease that the doctors believe was inherited. Even from beyond the grave, the "ghost" of Captain Alving ruins the life of his family. Mrs. Alving has to confess her husband's past to their son, destroying the young man's idealized view of his father. Knowing he is dying, Oswald wants to seduce the maid, Regina, so that when he enters the next stage of the disease she will give him poison. Oswald does not care that Regina is really his half-sister, and in the end it will be his mother's decision whether or not to give her son the poison when Oswald begins to have his attack.

   The ending of the play constitutes a Rorschach test for the audience, with Ibsen refusing to let them off the hook. "Ghosts" is probably the Ibsen drama that relies most on symbolism, from the heavy use of light/dark imagery to the purifying aspects of fire, to the obvious symbolism of ghosts. Consequently, I think this makes "Ghosts" one of the easier plays by Ibsen for students to analyze. Final Argument: Reading Ibsen's plays in order has greater benefit than usual when reading the works of a single author. If you read "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "An Enemy of the People," and "The Wild Duck," then you will see the playwright struggling to find a play that will reflect his deeply held beliefs and also find widespread critical and public acceptance. The relationship between each set of plays in the progression becomes insightful, as Ibsen either extends or reverses elements of the previous drama. For teachers of drama there might not be a better quartet of plays to study to show the growth of a major dramatist.

1 comments about Through the Body: A Practical Guide to Physical Theatre (Theatre Arts (Routledge Paperback)).

1. I love this book, it's thoroughly researched and it offers a great variety of exercises and cross-references to modern theatre practitioners, theatre ensembles and intercultural influences on the physical approach to training. My only suggestion would be to have all exercises indexed at the end of the book for easy perusal. I ended up doing it myself. I use this book extensively in ensemble training of my theatre company.

3 comments about Asian American Drama: 9 Plays from the Multiethnic Landscape.

1. This anthology is a well-selected one. It has a wide range of plays of different styles, from romantic comedy to absurdist family drama to post-modern weirdness. In response to the reviewer (and many other critics) who say that this is not a distinctly Asian collection of plays, I say, that's mostly the point: what really separates an Asian-American playwright and a white playwright? Or the Asian-American experience against the Caucasian experience? Just what you see.
   
   This anthology is proof positive that the Asian-American can and does do as much and as well as any other race. We are, in the end, all people experiencing the world through our own respective eyes. Maybe it just happens that a lot of people experience similar things.
   
   The big problem, at least with the edition I read, is that there are numerous typographical errors. Sometimes a line is attributed to a character who shouldn't be in the scene. Some are misspelled (among the most egregiously, the name of Dwight Omata in the table of contents) and can be distracting to reading and, therefore, understanding the play. It is the only gripe that makes this product less than a perfect 5-star.



2. I could care less for any of these plays. The authors seem to try and create a new brand of Asian literature. With the plays that I've read here, I hope that won't happen. Some of them are badly written and the characters aren't all too complex. But, this book shouldn't be called "Asian American Drama." Because there isn't anything Asian about it, except that the plays were written by Asians. Aside note: David Henry Hwang writes, "Frank Chin's play The Chicken Coop Chinaman was criticized for reinforcing stereotypes of broken-English-speaking Chinatown tour guides." If you read Chickencoop Chinaman, there is no Chinatown tour guide! Anyway, If you want something distinctively Asian, you have to narrow it down somewhere. You can't make up something culturally phony like some of these authors.



3. I am an actor, and I found this collection, just outstanding! Every play is excellent and readable even on the page. Several plays by women as well. Read and Enjoy. Then go out and put it together and act, produce and direct it! I will

No comments about Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb.

No comments about The Cambridge Companion to Tennessee Williams (Cambridge Companions to Literature).

5 comments about Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future.

1. Oh, my God! This hasn't been updated yet? I thought that after waiting almost 12 years for a revised edition it would have happened by now!!!
   
   Michael and Denise, please, for the love of Spock!!!!!......update this tired old beloved history of the future!!! I'm beggin' ya! I'm sitting here with credit card in hand ready and anxiously waiting!!!!



2. I wouldn't use this to prepare for a history exam (although it does cover some actual history pretty well), but this book will tell you anything and everything you ever wanted to know about what happened when and where in the Star Trek Universe... at least, up until 1996 franchise time.
   
   Movies and episodes of DS9, Voyager and Enterprise past that year are left out, for obvious reasons. Hopefully, given the lack of tv series/movie activity, they'll take the time to come up with an upgraded version of this book. An interactive CD-ROM would be nice, too.
   
   Worth getting in the meantime, though.



3. A great reference that starts several billion years B.C. to about one thousand A.D. This book has up to Star Trek: Next Generation First Contact, Deep Space Nine Season Four, and Voyager Season Two. One favorite section of mine is the alternate universes section with ALL of the alternate universes up to date. Now I'm waiting for an revised edition...



4. Everything I need to know about Star Trek is in this amazing book. The only problem I have with it is that I bought it when Star Trek Deep Space Nine was ending it's fourth season, and in the book, it goes up to the end of it's fourth season. I had no idea what was happening for two years! Oh well, now I know. Anyway, this book really helped me to understand the world of Star Trek, and the amazing thing is, that everything in this book has followed history so far! Anyway, I reccommend this book to any true Star Trek fans!



5. As it says in the introduction, there are many contradictions and empty spaces in this history, but if there's a need to understand the way Star Trek works, it's an indispensable reference book. Also for writers who want to create between the time lines listed in the book, it is a very well organized tool, and when possible, it reveals the contradictions or problems found by the authors in conjunction with the original writers, so you can fill in the blanks of the history or propose new theories. Well, it's a must have for those REAL Star Trek fans!!!

   P.D.: if you want a perfect book, please read the I-Ching...

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