Skip to main content
Northwestern University Press
Fulcrum Beta logo beta
  1. Home
  2. The Director's Prism: E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Russian Theatrical Avant-Garde

The Director's Prism: E. T. A. Hoffmann and the Russian Theatrical Avant-Garde

Dassia N. Posner 2016
The Director's Prism investigates how and why three of Russia's most innovative directors— Vsevolod Meyerhold, Alexander Tairov, and Sergei Eisenstein—used the fantastical tales of German Romantic writer E. T. A. Hoffmann to reinvent the rules of theatrical practice. Because the rise of the director and the Russian cult of Hoffmann closely coincided, Posner argues, many characteristics we associate with avant-garde theater—subjective perspective, breaking through the fourth wall, activating the spectator as a co-creator—become uniquely legible in the context of this engagement. Posner examines the artistic poetics of Meyerhold's grotesque, Tairov's mime-drama, and Eisenstein's theatrical attraction through production analyses, based on extensive archival research, that challenge the notion of theater as a mirror to life, instead viewing the director as a prism through whom life is refracted. A resource for scholars and practitioners alike, this groundbreaking study provides a fresh, provocative perspective on experimental theater, intercultural borrowings, and the nature of the creative process.
Buy Book
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-8101-3356-3 (hardcover)
  • 978-0-8101-3355-6 (paper)
  • 978-0-8101-3357-0 (e-book)
Subject
  • Performing Arts
Citable Link
  • Resources
  • Stats

Resources

Search and Filter Resources

Filter search results by

Section

  • Remove constraint Section: Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism1
Filter search results by

Keyword

  • Add filter Keyword: Moscow Art Theatre to constrain search results to 1 item1
  • Add filter Keyword: fourth-wall theater to constrain search results to 1 item1
  • Add filter Keyword: polemics to constrain search results to 1 item1
Filter search results by

Creator

  • Add filter Creator: Stanislavsky, Konstantin to constrain search results to 1 item1
Filter search results by

Format

  • Add filter Format: image to constrain results to 1 item1
    Filter search results by

    Image Content

    • Add filter Content: photograph to constrain results to 1 item1
Filter search results by

Year

  • Remove constraint Year: 18981
Filter search results by

Exclusivity

  • Remove constraint Exclusivity: Exclusive to Fulcrum1

Search Constraints

Filtering by: Exclusivity Exclusive to Fulcrum Remove constraint Exclusivity: Exclusive to Fulcrum Year 1898 Remove constraint Year: 1898 Section Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism Remove constraint Section: Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism
Start Over
1 entry found
  • First Appearance
  • Section (Earliest First)
  • Section (Last First)
  • Format (A-Z)
  • Format (Z-A)
  • Year (Oldest First)
  • Year (Newest First)
Number of results to display per page
  • 10 per page
  • 20 per page
  • 50 per page
  • 100 per page
View results as:
List Gallery

Search Results

Nina Zarechnaia, shrouded in white, performs on an elevated outdoor stage while spectators sit on a bench looking on, their backs to the real audience beyond the imaginary fourth wall.

Photograph of Nina in The Seagull

From Introduction: Hoffmann’s Prism

Nina Zarechnaia (Maria Roksanova) in act 1 of Chekhov’s The Seagull, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Moscow Art Theatre (premiere: December 18, 1898; photograph from 1905 revival). Laurence Senelick Collection.

Stats

20,619 views since September 28, 2016
Northwestern University Press logo

Northwestern University Press

Powered by Fulcrum Beta logo beta

  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Accessibility
  • Preservation
  • Terms of Service
  • Log In

© Northwestern University Press 2019

x This site requires cookies to function correctly.