The Polish playwright and artist Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, known as Witkacy, is now recognized as Poland's leading theatrical innovator of the interwar years and one of the outstanding creative personalities of the European avant-garde. This volume contains two of Witkacy's tropical plays inspired by the playwright's trip to Ceylon and Australia in 1914 with his close friend, the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Mr. Price, or Tropical Madness is a drama of heightened passion and greed among British colonists in Rangoon who seem to have stepped out of Joseph Conrad's tales of the South Seas. Metaphysics of a Two headed Calf , set in New Guinea and Australia, pits savage European imperialists against a native tribal Australia and pits savage European imperialists against a native tribal chieftain whose fetish of a great golden frog offers greater insight into the mystery of existence than the Westerners' shallow rationalism. Both plays puncture the white rulers' poses of superiority and parody their images of the tropical Other. Also included in the volume are Witkacy's Foreword to Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf in which the playwright defends his concept of theatre as an autonomous art with a scenic language of its own and an appendix containing a documentary itinerary of Witkacy's journey to Ceylon.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN-13
9780415275064
eBay Product ID (ePID)
95891914
Product Key Features
Book Title
Mr Price, or Tropical Madness and Metaphysics of a Two- Headed Calf
Author
Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Literature
Publication Year
2001
Number of Pages
128 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
229mm
Item Width
152mm
Item Weight
295g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz
Editor
Daniel Gerould
Country/Region of Manufacture
United Kingdom
Best Selling in Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Books