Acknowledgments 1: Introduction 2: Greek Tragedy 3: Aristophanes’ The Birds 4: From Menander to Moralities 5: Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus 6: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest 7: From Renaissance to Romanticism 8: Ibsen and Chekhov 9: Giraudoux’s The Madwoman of Chaillot 10: Brecht, Beckett, and Beyond — A Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
Biography
Downing Cless is Associate Professor of Drama at Tufts University.
"This newest addition to Routledge’s Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies series opens up a new, greener understanding of familiar works. As the first book-length ecocritical study of Western European drama, it contributes to a growing and lively discourse in theatre, performance and ecology… Cless is the first, however, to turn the light of ecocriticism back upon the earliest dramas of the canon, illuminating how these plays speak to the complex and multifaceted human/nature relationship." –Theresa J. May, Theatre Journal
"This is a bold and successful attempt at a comprehensive history of Western eco-theatre...Cless makes a convincing case for the value of eco-critical approaches to theatre, and he presents surprising and exciting insights, especially in the chapters on Aristophanes, Marlowe, and Shakespeare. After Cless's hardworking - witness also the useful, thematically arranged bibliography - and path-breaking book, we can confidently continue to advance in this direction." Jan L. Hagens, Text & Presentation Drama Conference Series
