The Social Significance of Modern Drama

The Modern Drama as all modern literature mirrors the complex struggle of life... -Emma Goldman in the Foreword With her reputation as a political radical it is often forgotten that much of Emma Goldmans activism was rooted in the arts. As a member of The Progressive Stage Society a founding force in the experimental theater movement and through her work as a theatrical manager herself she moved in quite artistic circles. And in these 1914 essays adapted from a lecture series she turned her passionate and philosophical eye on the stage blending social commentary and theatrical criticism as she dissects: - Henrik Ibsens A Dolls House and An Enemy of the People - August Strindbergs Miss Julie and Comrades - Edmond Rostands Chantecler - George Bernard Shaws Mrs. Warrens Profession and Major Barbara - William Butler Yeatss Where There Is Nothing - Anton Chekhovs The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard - Leonid Andreyevs King Hunger and others from Scandinavia Germany France England Ireland and Russia who were the social iconoclasts of her time... and ours. Also available from Cosimo Classics: Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman. Anarchist and feminist EMMA GOLDMAN (1869-1940) is one of the towering figures in global radicalism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Lithuania she emigrated to the United States as a teenager was deported in 1919 for her criticism of the U.S. military draft in World War I and died in Toronto after a globetrotting life. An early advocate of birth control womens rights and workers unions she was an important and influential figure in such far-flung geopolitical events as the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. Among her many books are My Disillusionment in Russia (1925) and Living My Life (1931).