Preface to the First Edition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
Summary
I hope that the title chosen for this book, The Dark Comedy, will not mislead readers into thinking that the drama of the twentieth century is dull, or necessarily gloomy: it is anything but this for the spectator. When it is stimulating, it is because it refuses to allow us to respond with preconceived notions of the tragic or the comic. I have therefore been at pains to lose in my title the associations belonging to the spurious term ‘tragicomedy’, which invites us to measure a play by two widely different yardsticks simultaneously, regardless of their possible irrelevance.
Once again I owe my very sincere thanks to Professor G. E. T. Mayfield, Mrs Pat Roberts and my wife for their most valuable suggestions and assistance. Grateful acknowledgment is also made to the owners of copyright material quoted in this book.
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- The Dark Comedy , pp. viPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1968