Mr Price, or Tropical Madness and Metaphysics of a Two- Headed Calf (Routledge Harwood Polish and Eastern European Theatre Archive, 12)

The Polish playwright and artist Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, known as Witkacy, is now recognized as Poland's leading theatrical innovator of the interwar years and one of the outstanding creative personalities of the European avant-garde. This volume contains two of Witkacy's "tropical" plays inspired by the playwright's trip to Ceylon and Australia in 1914 with his close friend, the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Mr. Price, or Tropical Madness is a drama of heightened passion and greed among British colonists in Rangoon who seem to have stepped out of Joseph Conrad's tales of the South Seas. Metaphysics of a Two headed Calf, set in New Guinea and Australia, pits savage European imperialists against a native tribal Australia and pits savage European imperialists against a native tribal chieftain whose fetish of a great golden frog offers greater insight into the mystery of existence than the Westerners' shallow rationalism. Both plays puncture the white rulers' poses of superiority and parody their images of the tropical Other. Also included in the volume are Witkacy's Foreword to Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf in which the playwright defends his concept of theatre as an autonomous art with a scenic language of its own and an appendix containing a documentary itinerary of Witkacy's journey to Ceylon. "Mr. Price, Or Tropical Madness is a drama of heightened passion and greed among British colonists in Rangoon, who seem to have stepped out of Joseph Conrad's tales of the South Seas, Metaphysics of a Two-headed Calf, set in New Guinea and Australia, pits savage European imperialists against a native tribal chieftain whose fetish of a great golden frog offers greater insight into the mystery of existence than the Westerners' shallow rationalism. Both plays puncture the white rulers' poses of superiority and parody their images of the tropical Other. Also included in the volume are Witkacy's Foreword to Metaphysics of a Two-headed Calf, in which the playwright defends his concept of theatre as an autonomous art with a scenic language of its own, and an appendix containing a documentary literary of Witkacy's journey to Ceylon."--Jacket Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Introduction to the Series......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Introduction: Tropical Madness Witkacy's Journey to the East......Page 14 Mr. Price, or Tropical Madness (1920 1925)......Page 24 Witkiewicz's Foreword to Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf (1921)......Page 70 Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf (1921)......Page 74 Appendix: Witkacy's Journey to the Tropics and Itinerary in Ceylon......Page 118 Arts, Language and Literature Book Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 5 Introduction to the Series 10 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction: Tropical Madness Witkacy's Journey to the East 14 Mr. Price, or Tropical Madness (1920 1925) 24 Witkiewicz's Foreword to Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf (1921) 70 Metaphysics of a Two-Headed Calf (1921) 74 Appendix: Witkacy's Journey to the Tropics and Itinerary in Ceylon 118