Geoffrey Brereton – författare

The French poetry of some five centuries is here surveyed in a series of studies of the work and personality of individual poets from Villon to the present day. Each chapter is primarily concerned with establishing the ‘literary identity’ of the poet or poets with whom it deals: the work of each is outlined and related to the historical and biographical circumstances in which it was written; and its characteristics are then examined critically in terms relevant to the modern reader. Comparisons are made between different poets, and more general topics – such as the concepts of ‘classic’ and ‘baroque’ – are discussed.

This book, first published in 1956, had become a standard introductory work for students of French poetry and general readers alike. For this revised edition, originally published in 1973, new chapters have been added on ‘irregular’ seventeenth-century poets and on various modern poets whose work now enables the Surrealist movement to be seen in clearer perspective. The bibliography has been revised extensively.

The French poetry of some five centuries is here surveyed in a series of studies of the work and personality of individual poets from Villon to the present day. Each chapter is primarily concerned with establishing the ‘literary identity’ of the poet or poets with whom it deals: the work of each is outlined and related to the historical and biographical circumstances in which it was written; and its characteristics are then examined critically in terms relevant to the modern reader. Comparisons are made between different poets, and more general topics – such as the concepts of ‘classic’ and ‘baroque’ – are discussed.

This book, first published in 1956, had become a standard introductory work for students of French poetry and general readers alike. For this revised edition, originally published in 1973, new chapters have been added on ‘irregular’ seventeenth-century poets and on various modern poets whose work now enables the Surrealist movement to be seen in clearer perspective. The bibliography has been revised extensively.

What is tragedy? What does the term imply? The word had outgrown its original context of literature and art and acquired wider and looser meanings.

Originally published in 1968, Dr Brereton seeks to establish the basis of a definition which will hold good on various planes and over a wide range of dramatic and other literature. Various theories are examined, beginning with Aristotle and taking in the Marxist interpretation and the two main religious theories of the sacrificial hero and the built-in conflict in fallen human nature. These theories are tested out on representative works by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Racine, Ibsen, Beckett and others, and the findings which emerge are developed in the course of the book. This is conceived as a re-exploration of a widely debated subject in the light of a few clear basic principles.

The result is a lucid study which will be especially valuable for students of literature and drama.

Racine the practising dramatist had been in some danger of being crowded out from the numerous books on his psychology and style.

In this critical study of the man and his work, first published in 1951 and this slightly revised edition originally in 1973, Dr Brereton’s guiding principle has been to make the factual basis as accurate as it can be in the light of modern research. The result is the portrait of a sensitive and attractive figure which is none the worse for being shorn of certain legends.

What is tragedy? What does the term imply? The word had outgrown its original context of literature and art and acquired wider and looser meanings.

Originally published in 1968, Dr Brereton seeks to establish the basis of a definition which will hold good on various planes and over a wide range of dramatic and other literature. Various theories are examined, beginning with Aristotle and taking in the Marxist interpretation and the two main religious theories of the sacrificial hero and the built-in conflict in fallen human nature. These theories are tested out on representative works by Sophocles, Shakespeare, Racine, Ibsen, Beckett and others, and the findings which emerge are developed in the course of the book. This is conceived as a re-exploration of a widely debated subject in the light of a few clear basic principles.

The result is a lucid study which will be especially valuable for students of literature and drama.

Racine the practising dramatist had been in some danger of being crowded out from the numerous books on his psychology and style.

In this critical study of the man and his work, first published in 1951 and this slightly revised edition originally in 1973, Dr Brereton’s guiding principle has been to make the factual basis as accurate as it can be in the light of modern research. The result is the portrait of a sensitive and attractive figure which is none the worse for being shorn of certain legends.