The Death of Character

ÒWhat makes this book exceptional is FuchsÕ acute rehearsal of the stranger unnerving events of the last generation that haveÑin the cross-reflections of theoryÑdetermined our thinking about theater. She seems to have seen and absorbed them all.Ó ÑHerbert Blau, Center for Twentieth Century Studies, University of Wisconsin, MilwaukeeÒA work of bold theoretical ambition and exceptional critical intelligence.Ó ÑUna Chaudhuri, New York UniversityÒ . . . Fuchs makes an exceptionally lucid and eloquent case for the value and contradictions in postmodern theater.Ó ÑAlice Rayner, Stanford UniversityÒSurveying the extraordinary scene of the postmodern American theater, Fuchs boldly frames key issues of subjectivity and performance with the keenest of critical eyes for the compelling image and the telling gesture.Ó ÑJoseph Roach, Tulane UniversityIn this engrossing study, Elinor Fuchs explores the multiple worlds of theater after modernism. She begins with the story of the decline of character, once the central link between the artist and the spectator. In theatrical modernism Fuchs sees a series of strategies to compensate for this decline. Postmodern theater no longer greets the demotion of character with anxiety, despair, or satisfactionÑas in Pirandello, Beckett, or BrechtÑbut puts in its stead a multiple subject, a protean spectator, and a dispersed field of attention. These changes are reflected in the dramaturgy, staging, gender representations, and audience expectations of contemporary theater. While The Death of Character engages contemporary cultural and aesthetic theory, Elinor Fuchs always speaks as an active theater critic. Nine of her Village Voice and American Theatre essays conclude the volume. They give an immediate, vivid account of contemporary theater and theatrical culture written from the front of rapid cultural change.