Modern Drama Studies: An Annual Bibliography

Modem Drama Studies: An Annual Bibliography CHARLES A. CARPENTER • Every year from 1960 to 19"69, this journal included Robert G. Shedd's "Modern Drama: A Selective Bibliography of Works Published in English in [1959-1968]." It was much used and greatly appreciated. Despite its restriction to English-language materials and its severely limited coverage of journals, Shedd's list was sorely lamented when it stopped appearing. The only passable alternative, the annual "MLA International Bibliography" in PMLA, then made its transition from a relatively up-to-date issue of a journal to an expanded, computerized project two years behind - with its modern drama references sprinkled over two volumes - and the need for a regeneration became compelling. "Modern Drama Studies: An Annual Bibliography" is intended as anew, improved version of the old ingroup checklist. The present installment covers material published in 1972 and 1973; the next one will pick up missed 1973 items and focus on 1974. Such overlapping will continue to be standard practice. Like its predecessor, the bibliography will be something more and something less than a catchall. The present one embraces all the expected areas, topics, and figures of modern world drama, as delimited in Myron Matlaw's recent encyclopedia (see the review in the preceding issue ofModern Drama). I have accepted Matlaw as my guide except for smuggling in, as a kind of polemic self-indulgence, the first genuine modern among dramatists, Georg Buchner. The net has been spread primarily for scholarship, criticism, and commentary of some value to students of dramatic literature. Thus journalistic accounts of theatrical events, memoirs of actors and directors, and the like are not listed. Neither are most studies of the non-dramatic works of playwrights - Brecht's poems, Beckett's novels, Camus' essays. Other exclusions: play scripts, editions, and anthologies unless their editorial 67 68 CHARLESA.CARPENTER matter is noteworthy; book reviews; all but fairly substantial works in foreign languages; doctoral theses; and virtually all reprints - even the new hardbound Theatre of the Absurd. References of biographical interest, especially interviews, have been sought rather than played down. Most of the eleven hundred items have been examined. This has made it possible not only to clear up some obscurities ("The Road to Glenmalure"; The Drama of N9mmo) but also to note what topics are stressed in wide-ranging books and essays, and to cross-reference that inside information. The bibliography is classified in eight sections, as follows: A. Bibliography and Reference B. General and Miscellaneous C. American and Canadian D. British and Irish E. French and Italian F. Spanish and Latin American G. Germanic and Scandinavian H. Other Nationalities The first two sections are restricted to material that would not fit in the better-defined categories. For a number of Chinese drama items in section H, I am indebted to Professor J. Norman Wilkinson of the University of Maine. Many abbreviations have been used as space-savers. Besides those for the most commonly cited journals, listed below, they include the first three letters of the months and seasons (Jan, Sum, etc.), NY and Lon for New York and London,. Amer and Eng and Lit for the obvious, and UP to indicate a university press. In other contexts, "University" is shortened to Univ and "Press" to Pro Further abbreviations - most of them self-evident - are Bul for Bulletin, J for Journal, Mag for Magazine, Q for Quarterly, Rev for Review, and St for Studies. Years of publication have been compressed to '72 and '73. JOURNAL ABBREVIATIONS BA Books Abroad EC 1:'Esprit Createur BB Bul ofBibliography Eire Eire-Ireland BW Black World ELT Eng Lit in Transition, 1880CB Curren t Biography 1920 CBY Curren t Biography ETJ Educational Theatre J Yearbook FMLS Forum for Modern Language CD Comparative Drama St ChL Chinese Lit FR French Rev CLAJ CLAJ GL&L German Life & Letters CLS Comparative Lit St GQ German Q ConL Contemporary Lit GR Germanic Rev Cos Costerus His Hispania D&T Drama & Theatre JIL J ofIrish Lit MODERN DRAMA STUDIES 69 JML J ofModern Lit Hispanicos LATR Latin Amer Theatre Rev RLAE Resefia de Literatura, Arte y Litt Litterature Espectaculos LuK Literatur und Kritik RLC Revue de Litterature MAL Modern Austrian Lit Comparee MD Modem...