Collected Works of W. B. Yeats : The Irish Dramatic Movement

by William Butler Yeats; Richard J. Finneran; Mary FitzGerald

• ISBN13: 9780684807065
• ISBN10: 0684807068
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-05-27
• Publisher: Scribner

Summary

The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Volume VIII: The Irish Dramatic Movement is part of a fourteen-volume series under the general editorship of eminent Yeats scholars Richard J. Finneran and George Mills Harper. This complete edition includes virtually all of the Nobel laureate's published work, in authoritative texts and with extensive explanatory notes.Edited by the distinguished Yeats scholars Mary FitzGerald and Richard J. Finneran, The Irish Dramatic Movement gathers together -- for the first time -- all of the poet's time-honored essays on drama and the groundbreaking movement that led to the enduring Irish theater of today.Although the reputation of W. B. Yeats as one of the preeminent writers of the twentieth century rests primarily on his poetry, drama and the theatre were among his abiding concerns. Indeed, in 1917 he wrote, "I need a theatre; I believe myself to be a dramatist." Here in this volume is the collection of all his major dramatic criticism for the years 1899-1919, including previously uncollected material.A practicing dramatist himself, Yeats had strong convictions about the goals of the Irish theater and the appropriate plays to be produced. The essays in this collection address many topics, from the turbulent early years of what became the Abbey Theatre to the controversies over the plays of John Millington Synge and the relationship between drama and nationalism. Also evident are Yeats's judgments on numerous plays, playwrights, and productions, both in Irish and in English.FitzGerald and Finneran's volume includes an Introduction and a History of the Text, as well as copious but unobtrusive annotation. The Irish Dramatic Movement is an essential volume for both readers of Yeats and students of the early years of twentieth-century theater.

Author Biography

The late Mary FitzGerald was Professor of English and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Among her numerous publications in Anglo-Irish studies were an edition of Selected Plays of Lady Gregory and the Cornell Yeats edition of the manuscripts of Yeats's play The Words Upon the Window-pane.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Abbreviations	p. xv
Introduction	p. xvii
The Irish Dramatic Movement
Samhain: 1901	p. 3
Samhain: 1902	p. 11
Samhain: 1903	p. 20
Samhain: 1903--The Reform of the Theatre	p. 26
Samhain: 1903--Moral and Immoral Plays	p. 29
Samhain: 1903--An Irish National Theatre	p. 32
Samhain: 1903--The Theatre, the Pulpit, and the Newspapers	p. 36
Samhain: 1904--The Dramatic Movement	p. 40
Samhain: 1904--First Principles	p. 52
Samhain: 1904--The Play, the Player, and the Scene	p. 68
Samhain: 1905	p. 80
Samhain: 1906--Literature and the Living Voice	p. 94
The Arrow: 20 October 1906--The Season's Work	p. 108
The Arrow: 23 February 1907--The Controversy Over The Playboy of the Western World	p. 110
The Arrow: 1 June 1907--On Taking The Playboy to London	p. 113
Samhain: 1908--First Principles	p. 115
A People's Theatre: A Letter to Lady Gregory	p. 124
Prefaces and Note
[Preface] in The Collected Works in Verse and Prose (1908)	p. 137
Preface to Plays and Controversies (1923)	p. 138
Note in Mythologies (Edition de Luxe proofs, 1931-32)	p. 140
Uncollected Contributions to Beltaine, Samhain, and The Arrow
Beltaine: May 1899--Plans and Methods	p. 143
Beltaine: May 1899--The Theatre	p. 147
Beltaine: February 1900--Plans and Methods	p. 152
Beltaine: February 1900--Maeve, and certain Irish Beliefs	p. 156
Beltaine: February 1900--[Note] to Alice Milligan's The Last Feast of the Fianna	p. 160
Beltaine: February 1900--The Irish Literary Theatre, 1900	p. 161
Beltaine: April 1900--The Last Feast of the Fianna, Maeve, and The Bending of the Bough, in Dublin	p. 164
Samhain: 1901--from Windlestraws	p. 167
Samhain: 1901--[Note] to George Moore's "The Irish Literary Theatre"	p. 168
Samhain: 1902--from Notes	p. 169
Samhain: 1902--[Note] to AE's "The Dramatic Treatment of Heroic Literature"	p. 170
Samhain: 1903--from Notes	p. 171
Samhain: 1904--[Interpolations]	p. 172
Samhain: 1904--Miss Horniman's Offer of Theatre and the Society's Acceptance	p. 173
Samhain: 1904--from An Opinion	p. 176
The Arrow: 20 October 1906--from The Season's Work	p. 177
The Arrow: 20 October 1906--A Note on The Mineral Workers	p. 178
The Arrow: 20 October 1906--The Irish Peasant on Hyacinth Halvey	p. 179
The Arrow: 20 October 1906--[Notes]	p. 180
The Arrow: 24 November 1906--[Notes]	p. 182
The Arrow: 24 November 1906--Deirdre	p. 184
The Arrow: 24 November 1906--The Shadowy Waters	p. 185
Samhain: 1906--Notes	p. 187
The Arrow: 23 February 1907--from The Controversy Over The Playboy	p. 189
The Arrow: 23 February 1907--from Mr. Yeats' Opening Speech at the Debate of February 4th, at the Abbey Theatre	p. 190
The Arrow: 1 June 1907--from [Notes]	p. 193
Samhain: 1908--Events	p. 195
Samhain: 1908--Alterations in Deirdre	p. 202
Samhain: 1908--Dates and Places of the First Performance of Plays produced by the National Theatre Society and its Predecessors	p. 203
The Arrow: 25 August 1909--The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet: Statement by the Directors	p. 207
The Arrow: 25 August 1909--from [Note]	p. 209
The Arrow: 25 August 1909--The Religion of Blanco Posnet	p. 210
Textual Matters and Notes
History of the Text	p. 213
Textual Emendations and Corrections	p. 223
Notes	p. 233
Index	p. 293
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