10-01-2012, 01:11 AM | #1 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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Plays Nominations • October 2012
Help us select what the MR Literary Club will read for October 2012!
The nominations will run for up to three days until October 4 or until five works have made the list. Final voting in a new poll will begin by October 4, where the month's selection will be decided. The category for this month is: Plays In order for a work to be included in the poll it needs four nominations - the original nomination plus three supporting. Each participant has four nominations to use. You can nominate a new work for consideration or you can support (second, third or fourth) a work that has already been nominated by another person. To nominate a work just post a message with your nomination. If you are the first to nominate a work, it's always nice to provide an abstract to the work so others may consider their level of interest. What is literature for the purposes of this club? A superior work of lasting merit that enriches the mind. Often it is important, challenging, critically acclaimed. It may be from ancient times to today; it may be from anywhere in the world; it may be obscure or famous, short or long; it may be a story, a novel, a play, a poem, an essay or another written form. If you are unsure if a work would be considered literature, just ask! The floor is now open! * Nominations through post 23: Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Oresteia by Aeschylus - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Country Wife by William Wycherley - Fully nominated Spoiler:
The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky - 3 Spoiler:
Śakuntalā by Kālidāsa - 2 Spoiler:
Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello - 2 Spoiler:
Last edited by sun surfer; 10-04-2012 at 12:50 AM. |
10-01-2012, 11:18 AM | #2 |
Nameless Being
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I will start this off by nominating The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill.
Considered perhaps O'Neill's greatest play. Set in a 1912 Greenwich Village lower class saloon populated with a group of regulars who spend their lives drinking and discussing grandiose ambitions that will never come to fruition, As the play opens they are awaiting the annual visit from Hickey, a big-spending, fast-talking traveling salesman. This visit is different as Hickey brutally forces them to confront the reality of their lives, before making a shocking revelation about himself. A quick search reveals that his is available as an ebook from Amazon, B&N, and Kobo. Last edited by Hamlet53; 10-01-2012 at 01:02 PM. |
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10-01-2012, 02:01 PM | #3 |
o saeclum infacetum
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I'll flesh these out this evening, but I'm going to get two nominations up now:
The Oresteia tragedy trilogy by Aeschylus The Country Wife, a bawdy Restoration comedy by William Wycherley |
10-01-2012, 05:10 PM | #4 |
o saeclum infacetum
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Some more on my nominations:
The Oresteia Spoiler:
The Country Wife Spoiler:
There are free ebooks of both available, although a preference in translation might lead one to purchase the Oresteia. |
10-01-2012, 05:23 PM | #5 |
Wizard
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I'll second The Oresteia. I've always wanted to read Aeschylus and this would be a very good chance to do so.
I'll also second The Country Wife. It sonds like fun! |
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10-01-2012, 05:54 PM | #6 |
Wizard
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I'll nominate Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw.
Arms and the Man is a comedy with typically brilliant Shavian wit combined with very serious themes. Among them are the futility of war, hypocrisy, self-delusion, and stereotyping. Most satiric comedy has a dark edge and this play is no exception. It is in the public domain and free from Project Gutenberg. Last edited by fantasyfan; 10-01-2012 at 06:05 PM. |
10-01-2012, 06:07 PM | #7 |
o saeclum infacetum
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I love GBS. Second Arms and the Man.
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10-01-2012, 11:33 PM | #8 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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I'll nominate two:
The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky Spoiler:
Śakuntalā by Kālidāsa Spoiler:
I'm interested in all the nominations so far too; it's hard to decide what to do with the rest of my noms. |
10-02-2012, 08:08 AM | #9 |
Nameless Being
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I will second The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky. It is a long time since I last read this and I am always up for some Gorky.
I will also second Śakuntalā by Kālidāsa. This is a new one to me, but it sounds very interesting. So how many nominations total are we allowed again? |
10-02-2012, 03:49 PM | #10 | |
Wizard
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Agreed that all selections so far look enticing - but I have to throw in another one with a little bit of nationalistic pride: Six Characters in Search of an Author, by Luigi Pirandello. The first performance of this 1921 play by Pirandello (who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1934) caused a riot as too odd, and after a new revised edition published in 1925 with a preface/explanation by the author (that you can find translated e.g. here).
The amazon blurb reads: Quote:
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10-02-2012, 04:32 PM | #11 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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Well this area is having power issues. I'm posting from mobile and can't edit properly so can't update noms for awhile. When it's fixed I'll update; hopefully it'll be by tomorrow.
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10-02-2012, 04:39 PM | #12 | |
o saeclum infacetum
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Quote:
I don't think I've ever seen a more intriguing group of nominations. What to do? I'd happily read any of them and I only have one nomination left. |
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10-02-2012, 04:57 PM | #13 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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Thank you issybird. Hamlet53, each poster gets four nominations.
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10-02-2012, 05:02 PM | #14 |
Wizard
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To begin I feel obliged to third Arms and the Man as I have ashamedly read very little of GBS. Need to think some more, though this time I'll be biased towards ebook versions, as I am travelling quite a bit over the next few weeks.
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10-03-2012, 01:10 AM | #15 |
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I would love to join in, but have to bow out again this month. We are going on a bird-watching holiday to New Zealand on 21 October for a couple of weeks and I need to spend my reading time boning up on the NZ bird books.
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