The Collected Drama of H. L. Mencken Plays and Criticism

by Joshi, S. T.

• ISBN13: 9780810883697
• ISBN10: 0810883694
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-06-07
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Summary

Throughout his career as a literary critic, H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) was intent on elevating the bold, the daring, and the innovative over the hackneyed, the trite, and the superficial, and his drama criticism exhibits this tendency to the fullest. Although know primarily as a newspaperman and commentator, Mencken also wrote several one-act plays, as well as a full-length work.

Author Biography

S. T. Joshi edits the scholarly journals Lovecraft Annual and Weird Fiction Review and is the author of H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (2004), Gore Vidal: A Comprehensive Bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 2007), and H. L. Mencken: An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 2009).

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
The Plays	p. 7
The Artist: A Drama without Words	p. 9
In the Vestry Room	p. 17
Seeing the World	p. 23
Asepsis: A Deduction in Scherzo Form	p. 35
Death: A Philosophical Discussion	p. 47
The Wedding: A Stage Direction	p. 53
Heliogabalus: A Buffoonery in Three Acts	p. 61
Mencken on Drama	p. 159
"By Way of Introduction" to George Bernard Shaw: His Plays	p. 161
William Shakespeare	p. 171
A Drama of Ideas	p. 175
A Plea for Comedy	p. 179
Et-Dukkehjemiana	p. 183
The Revival of the Printed Play	p. 191
The New Dramatic Literature	p. 199
Brieux and Others	p. 205
The Terrible Swede	p. 211
Synge and Others	p. 219
Gerhart Hauptmann	p. 223
Thirty-five Printed Plays	p. 229
The Ulster Polonius	p. 239
Ibsen: Journeyman Dramatist	p. 243
Notes	p. 249
Index	p. 261
About the Editor	p. 269
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