On the Uses of the Fantastic in Modern Theatre : Cocteau, Oedipus, and the Monster

The book reveals how the fantastic is used in modern theatre as a manipulative device to encode the unspeakable and control audience response, challenging conventional readings of all authors who use the fantastic. The book reveals how the fantastic is used in modern theatre as a manipulative device to encode the unspeakable and control audience response, challenging conventional readings of all authors who use the fantastic "Who are the monsters in Jean Cocteau's Infernal Machine? Eynat-Confino's absorbing study gives us all facets of this central theme of Cocteau's modern classic and the ways monstrosity relates to Cocteau's self image as homosexual and poet. A must read for readers interested in Cocteau, modern French theater, and gender and gay studies."--John M Clum, Professor of Theater Studies and English Duke University and author of Still Acting Gay: Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama and Something for the Boys: Musical Theater and Gay Culture In this innovative reading, Irene Eynat-Confino offers an explanation for the higher effectiveness of the fantastic in theatre. Taking Cocteau's masterpiece The Infernal Machine as a case study, she also reveals that when the fantastic is introduced within a realistic context, it encodes and conveys unconventional notions. The book addresses such issues as identity, the Oedipus myth and Freud, homosexuality and homophobia, marginality, and the role of the artist in society.--Résumé de l'éditeur Front Matter....Pages i-vii Introduction....Pages 1-4 The Infernal Machine....Pages 5-23 The Sphinx....Pages 25-44 Laius, Tiresias, and Jocasta....Pages 45-55 Oedipus....Pages 57-75 Dramatic Strategies and Stratagems....Pages 77-92 Cocteau and His Monster....Pages 93-110 Visibility, Invisibility, and the Fantastic....Pages 111-136 Ethics, Alterity, and Designed Emotion....Pages 137-152 Back Matter....Pages 153-198