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13+ Obras 1,444 Miembros 13 Reseñas

Sobre El Autor

David Scott Kastan is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University

Obras de David Scott Kastan

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I've been interested in color for as long as I can remember. How it affects moods, why we all like different colors, do we all see the same colors, are there colors we can't see, etc.?

This book covers all aspects of color in an interesting and informative manner. Looks at color from a scientific view as well as from emotional, historical, literary, and artistic view points.

Recommended.
 
Denunciada
paroof | 2 reseñas más. | Nov 25, 2022 |
The best thing about this book might be the cover, which is beautiful. David Scott Kastan is clearly a guy who likes to hear himself talk; it is unclear exactly what "with Stephen Farthing" means... presumably as "an artist" he brought some technical expertise in colors and painting. Is it fair to downgrade a book because it didn't give me what I was hoping for, instead of judging it for how well it does what the author(s) intended to do? (The eternal reviewer's dilemma.) According to the jacket blurb, the book "investigate[s] color from numerous perspectives: literary, historical, cultural, anthropological, philosophical, art historical, political, and scientific." That's an awful lot for a book clocking in at just over 200 small-format pages, and definitely too much to deliver more than a pretty superficial skim of the subjects. Arranged in chapters each devoted to a particular color, they can be read (the author assures us) in any order. Which means there is no arc, no building, no synthesis, and a fair amount of repetition (including rather too much about artist Yves Klein and his famous blue, who I'm thinking must be a particular favorite of Farthing's?). The chapter on green spends a lot of words on how red and blue became codes for political leanings... so, all right, maybe the intent is to hang each chapter on a conceptual hook, rather than focusing on the actual color? Well, not really. Kastan is good at library (or internet) research, and cheerfully marshals lots of anecdotes and examples - many of which are interesting - in a chatty tone that too often veers into cute, punny, smart-aleck asides. The best chapter is the one on the color (or non-color) white, as he chooses to weave Moby Dick well into it, and as a literary scholar, this is what he's best at. Overall, though, the book reads more like a conglomeration of Wikipedia content processed with his own random ruminations and commentary. And yes, "The Dress" is mentioned (with photos) - but with very little serious examination or explication. Disappointing.… (más)
 
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JulieStielstra | 2 reseñas más. | May 17, 2021 |
Although I wasn't looking for a hard read this collection of essays also felt rather slight in the end. I supposed that I was looking for more color theory to go along with the psychology of color.
 
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Shrike58 | 2 reseñas más. | Oct 15, 2020 |
The book consists of twenty six essays by various contributors and its aim according to the editors is to provide the most comprehensive account of early English drama. It has been labelled as new because it also intends to summarise the current state of knowledge and to banish some myths that have been in existence since the 1930’s. This book was published in 1997 and so there might be time now for an even newer History of Early English Drama.

By the very nature of the book the essays are topic driven rather than a chronological history. For the most part the essays are well written; not too academic and many contain interesting details that cumulatively work to give a good impression of early English drama. I tend to think of early English drama as pre-Shakespeare and I was pleased to see many essays based on the origins of stage plays, before there were any permanent theatres. For example there are essays on; The English church as a theatrical space, staging at the universities, entertainments at court and private functions as well as streets and markets and the tableaus that were produced for Royal events (Wonderful Spectacles). There were also good essays on the building and design of early London theatres and how they were financed, as well as an examination of the theatre goers and the popularity of the plays. However once the essays started to focus on the permanent stage theatres, then many of the examples of productions and other staging issues tended to relate mainly to Shakespeare. Of course there has been much research on the staging and production of Shakespeare’s plays and so there is much to draw on to provide examples, but I was hoping that he would not appear so often in some these essays as he did.

There are a group of essays around the topics of manuscripts, revisions of scripts and the publication of play books and this is where the myth busters have gone to work. Sir Walter Wilson Greg’s theories on the authorship of manuscripts, publishing and the demand for play books, which seem to have held sway since the 1930’s come in for some serious criticism, so much so that it would appear that the whole subject has been sidetracked by him for a considerable number of years and have resulted in critics going off at tangents in unearthing issues of skullduggery by various patrons, printers and playwrights based on Greg’s research. The essays in this book expose the flaws in Greg’s theories and do a good job in setting the record straight as well as making the point that intellectual property was not the issue in the 16th century that it has become today. Plays were written, revised, sometimes rewritten by more than one author, it was how it worked when the issue was all about making the play fit for a production or a new revision.

I enjoyed the book and it has provided me with some essential background for some projected reading of 16th century drama, which after all was the jewel in the crown of the English Renaissance. I am not so sure about the title ‘A New History’, perhaps a revised history would be nearer the mark. Still an interesting and informative read and so 4 stars.
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Denunciada
baswood | Apr 30, 2016 |

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Estadísticas

Obras
13
También por
11
Miembros
1,444
Popularidad
#17,806
Valoración
4.0
Reseñas
13
ISBNs
44
Idiomas
1

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