From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play (PAJ Books)

"Turner looks beyond his routinized discipline to an anthropology of experience... We must admire him for this." -- Times Literary Supplement How is social action related to aesthetics? In what ways do the large and small crises that fill not only the nightly TV news but also our daily lives relate to the genre of theater? Victor Turner deals with these and other questions in a classic study that ranges from anthropology to acting, from everyday life to artistic genres. "How is social action related to aesthetics? In what ways do the large and small crises that fill, not only the nightly TV news but also our daily lives, relate to the genre of theatre? And how are cultures as seemingly different as the Ndembu of Africa and the pluralistic mini-societies of today's America related? Victor Turner--author, teacher, theorist--deals with these manifold connections in this book of essays which range from anthropology to acting to directing, from everyday life to play to genres of art. He writes about "liminality"-- that particular kind of being "in between" so familiar to actors, artists, musicians, shamans. He explains the connections between the "social dramas" that punctuate our lives both on the large scale, such as Watergate and the Iranian hostage crisis and, on the small scale, in ordinary living and the "aesthetic dramas" known to us through literature and theatre." -- Provided by the Publisher "How is social action related to aesthetics, and anthropology to theatre? What is the meaning of such concepts as "work," "play, "liminal," and "flow"? In this highly influential book, Turner elaborates on ritual and theatre, persona and individual, role-playing and performing, taking examples from American, European, and African societies for a greater understanding of culture and its symbols."--Back cover.