Emma Goldman's 'The Social Significance of the Modern Drama' is a groundbreaking analysis of the role that drama plays in reflecting and shaping society. Published in 1914, amidst a period of significant social and political upheaval, Goldman delves into the works of playwrights such as Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, and August Strindberg to explore how their plays challenge traditional norms and power structures. She argues that the modern drama serves as a powerful tool for social change and liberation, drawing connections between art and political activism. Goldman's writing style is passionate and incisive, drawing on her own experiences as an anarchist and feminist to provide a unique perspective on the cultural landscape of her time. Her insights continue to resonate today, making this book a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of art, politics, and social justice.

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 Goldman's 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 Ibsen's A Doll's House and An Enemy of the People August Strindberg's Miss Julie and Comrades Edmond Rostand's Chantecler George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession and Major Barbara William Butler Yeats's Where There Is Nothing Anton Chekhov's The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard Leonid Andreyev's 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, women's 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. Amongher many books are My Disillusionment in Russia (1925) and Living My Life (1931).

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The contributors examine varied topics such as the analysis of periodicity; the articulation of social, political, and cultural production in theatre; the re-evaluation of texts, performances, and canons; and demonstrations of how interdisciplinarity inflects theatre and its practice.