Papers by Jason A . Eckard
The ancient Greek god Zagreus appears throughout the corpus of Classical literature, yet his impo... more The ancient Greek god Zagreus appears throughout the corpus of Classical literature, yet his importance is seldom acknowledged. This paper brings together the most significant references to him in the literature and tracks the changes and development his mythos undergoes from a regional chthonic deity to several more site-specific forms (from Thrace, Crete and Athens). The adoration of the phallus in Dionysiac theatrical festivals in Athens is linked specifically to Zagreus and his Thracian cult.
In his 2006 book Poetry of the Revolution: Marx, Manifestos, and the Avant-Gardes, Martin Puchner... more In his 2006 book Poetry of the Revolution: Marx, Manifestos, and the Avant-Gardes, Martin Puchner begins his discussion of the historical development of avant-garde tradition in an unlikely place: sixteenth century Germany. He highlights the life and work of Thomas Münzer, an early Reformation theologian and, as Puchner points out, revolutionary. The first half of this paper expands on Puchner’s work, filling in more details of Münzer’s life and revolution(s), looking particularly the relationship between Münzer’s actions and his texts and textual analyses. Münzer was executed at the early age of thirty-six, so the corpus of his works is not extensive, and the activity that led to that execution is strongly based on his readings of the Bible and the patristic writers.
The second half of the paper asks whether or not Münzer can be classified as avant-garde in the sense the term is used now. To do so, I compare Münzer’s actions with the definition of avant-garde Puchner provides in his book, as well as the definitions provide by Peter Bürger and Mike Sell. I also look at the related terms “radical” and “modernist” also used by these authors to see if they can be applied to Münzer.
Looking at if and how the idea of the avant-garde can be applied to Münzer allows me to step back and consider the larger issue of whether there is one single avant-garde tradition whose development can be plotted in linear terms, or whether there is more than one avant-garde tradition in history, whose relationship can be considered the non-linear, genealogical terms suggested by Foucault and Joseph Roach.
A few months ago, a witchmark was found in the rafters of Knole House in Kent. It was put there... more A few months ago, a witchmark was found in the rafters of Knole House in Kent. It was put there by workers in 1606, just after the Gunpowder Plot, to protect the King James from witchcraft during his visit to the house. My paper investigates the complex intersection between witchcraft, drama, and politics that this witchmark represents.
I start by briefly charting the history of magic and witchcraft in Early Modern plays, starting with the first generation of the professional playwrights in the 1580s, through its flowering in the first decade of the 17th Century and its decline in the 1620s and 1630s. I argue that with the ascension of James in 1603, who becomes king already freighted with a long association with witchcraft, there is palpable shift in the content of such plays from fantastic magic to specifically demonic witchcraft, specifically looking at Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Macbeth as examples of the change.
I tie the performance of witches on Early Modern stage into James’ marriage to Anne of Denmark, his activity in the witch trials that resulted from that marriage, and his own performance of heterosexuality and fitness for the English throne. I continue by evaluating each of these social forces according to the definition of performativity provided by Richard Schechner and using Victor Tuner’s ides of Deep Play, focusing particularly on his notions of restored actions, self-conscious activities and play.
This paper will look at the character of “the Doctor” in three medieval performance pieces: The ... more This paper will look at the character of “the Doctor” in three medieval performance pieces: The Play of St. George, a Christmas mumming, The Croxton Play of the Sacrament, and Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. These three works provide an excellent counterpoint to the Doctor character that appears in morality plays from the same era (as in, for instance, Everyman): in these three plays, the Doctor appears as a figure of fun, a source for comedy, very different figure from his purely allegorical, doctrinally-correct presence in the moralities.
Interestingly, determining the date of composition or first performance for all three of these Doctor plays is problematic, if not impossible. While this makes any analytical approach rooted in a strictly evolutionary timeline impossible, it does open the works up for discussion of their relationship through genealogical terms (as originated by Michel Foucault and adapted by Joseph Roach into the idea of performance genealogies). Using a close reading of the first two texts particularly, I examine them for signs of genealogical relationship and examine the particular representational strategies they employ. I suggest that they form a distinct genealogy that informs Marlowe’s play in a much more immediate and significant manner than morality plays that are traditionally seen as a commanding influence on Faustus.
Book Reviews by Jason A . Eckard
Michael Norton's Liturgical Drama and the Reimagining of Medieval Theater (Medieval Institute Pub... more Michael Norton's Liturgical Drama and the Reimagining of Medieval Theater (Medieval Institute Publications, 2017), examines the relationship between musicology, theatre history and performance studies, using liturgical drama as its case study. As such, it is auseful intervention into the discussion of theatre as a multi-media artform, as well as the interdisciplinary nature of theatre studies. However, scholars of liturgical drama may find themselves skeptical, as did this reviewer, that the author's conclusions serve the advancement of theatre studies or studies in religion and theatre. While Norton is correct that there are serious gaps and flaws in our contemporary understanding of liturgical drama and its relationship to medieval theatre, his diagnosis does not propose a cure. Norton straightaway offers what might seem like a surprising thesis: liturgical drama, he says, does not exist. The reason the category continues to be used is due to a series of editorial misunderstandings and authorial mistakes-chiefly by nonmusicologists. The first two chapters are an historiographic review of the term liturgical drama. Chapter one looks at its origin in mid-19th century French-language studies on medieval drama and its development through the end of the 1800s. Chapter two looks at developments in English language theatre studies throughout the 20th Century, paying particular interest to the works of E.K. Chambers, Karl Young and O. B. Hardison. Throughout his review, Norton identifies the perpetrators of these mistakes and their misunderstanding of what Norton considers to be the purely metaphorical original use of the term "liturgical drama". In the 1840s French author Charles Magnin supplanted what might be called "the drama of liturgy" with "drama in liturgy." According to Norton, this has resulted in the assumption that liturgical drama is many things that it actually is not, while Norton himself prefers a very narrow definition. For Norton, most theatre history of the 20th century only compounds the error, so that current theatrical research in the area finds only what it wants to see there and refuses to look at the data with an independent eye. Norton's final chapters attempt to set the record straight, confining the definition of liturgical drama to mostly sung ritual elements of church service, devoid of dialogue, with no representation of action or person, costumes, scenery or anything else even vaguely theatrical. This is a difficult argument to make and Norton does not make it successfully. Scholars and clerics from within the early church-from Eusebius to St. Amalarius of Metz to Honorius of Atun-have acknowledged the fundamentally theatrical nature of Roman Catholic ritual, and it is difficult to discredit the opinions of such men who experienced the rites daily throughout their lives. The fact that Norton does not mention these authors, or only gives them notably short shrift (Honorius' work is discussed in under a page), was enough for this reader to be apprehensive about his conclusions. Norton employs creative semantic and linguistic gymnastics in order to force the liturgical texts of the period into illustrating his limited definition of "liturgical drama." He creates new terminology to downplay or delete references to overt theatricality: "I will use the term 'represent' rather than 'portray,' 'celebrate' rather than 'perform,' 'in the person of' rather than 'role,' 'vestments' rather than 'costume,' 'movement' rather than 'staging' and so on" (7). These create distinctions without
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Papers by Jason A . Eckard
The second half of the paper asks whether or not Münzer can be classified as avant-garde in the sense the term is used now. To do so, I compare Münzer’s actions with the definition of avant-garde Puchner provides in his book, as well as the definitions provide by Peter Bürger and Mike Sell. I also look at the related terms “radical” and “modernist” also used by these authors to see if they can be applied to Münzer.
Looking at if and how the idea of the avant-garde can be applied to Münzer allows me to step back and consider the larger issue of whether there is one single avant-garde tradition whose development can be plotted in linear terms, or whether there is more than one avant-garde tradition in history, whose relationship can be considered the non-linear, genealogical terms suggested by Foucault and Joseph Roach.
I start by briefly charting the history of magic and witchcraft in Early Modern plays, starting with the first generation of the professional playwrights in the 1580s, through its flowering in the first decade of the 17th Century and its decline in the 1620s and 1630s. I argue that with the ascension of James in 1603, who becomes king already freighted with a long association with witchcraft, there is palpable shift in the content of such plays from fantastic magic to specifically demonic witchcraft, specifically looking at Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Macbeth as examples of the change.
I tie the performance of witches on Early Modern stage into James’ marriage to Anne of Denmark, his activity in the witch trials that resulted from that marriage, and his own performance of heterosexuality and fitness for the English throne. I continue by evaluating each of these social forces according to the definition of performativity provided by Richard Schechner and using Victor Tuner’s ides of Deep Play, focusing particularly on his notions of restored actions, self-conscious activities and play.
Interestingly, determining the date of composition or first performance for all three of these Doctor plays is problematic, if not impossible. While this makes any analytical approach rooted in a strictly evolutionary timeline impossible, it does open the works up for discussion of their relationship through genealogical terms (as originated by Michel Foucault and adapted by Joseph Roach into the idea of performance genealogies). Using a close reading of the first two texts particularly, I examine them for signs of genealogical relationship and examine the particular representational strategies they employ. I suggest that they form a distinct genealogy that informs Marlowe’s play in a much more immediate and significant manner than morality plays that are traditionally seen as a commanding influence on Faustus.
Book Reviews by Jason A . Eckard
The second half of the paper asks whether or not Münzer can be classified as avant-garde in the sense the term is used now. To do so, I compare Münzer’s actions with the definition of avant-garde Puchner provides in his book, as well as the definitions provide by Peter Bürger and Mike Sell. I also look at the related terms “radical” and “modernist” also used by these authors to see if they can be applied to Münzer.
Looking at if and how the idea of the avant-garde can be applied to Münzer allows me to step back and consider the larger issue of whether there is one single avant-garde tradition whose development can be plotted in linear terms, or whether there is more than one avant-garde tradition in history, whose relationship can be considered the non-linear, genealogical terms suggested by Foucault and Joseph Roach.
I start by briefly charting the history of magic and witchcraft in Early Modern plays, starting with the first generation of the professional playwrights in the 1580s, through its flowering in the first decade of the 17th Century and its decline in the 1620s and 1630s. I argue that with the ascension of James in 1603, who becomes king already freighted with a long association with witchcraft, there is palpable shift in the content of such plays from fantastic magic to specifically demonic witchcraft, specifically looking at Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Macbeth as examples of the change.
I tie the performance of witches on Early Modern stage into James’ marriage to Anne of Denmark, his activity in the witch trials that resulted from that marriage, and his own performance of heterosexuality and fitness for the English throne. I continue by evaluating each of these social forces according to the definition of performativity provided by Richard Schechner and using Victor Tuner’s ides of Deep Play, focusing particularly on his notions of restored actions, self-conscious activities and play.
Interestingly, determining the date of composition or first performance for all three of these Doctor plays is problematic, if not impossible. While this makes any analytical approach rooted in a strictly evolutionary timeline impossible, it does open the works up for discussion of their relationship through genealogical terms (as originated by Michel Foucault and adapted by Joseph Roach into the idea of performance genealogies). Using a close reading of the first two texts particularly, I examine them for signs of genealogical relationship and examine the particular representational strategies they employ. I suggest that they form a distinct genealogy that informs Marlowe’s play in a much more immediate and significant manner than morality plays that are traditionally seen as a commanding influence on Faustus.