Tragedy in the Age of Oprah

Tragedy in the Age of Oprah
Author: Louis Fantasia
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2013
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 0810885085

In an era of Twitter and televised therapy, it may seem that classic theatre has little place in contemporary society. Accustomed to the indulgences of a celebrity-driven culture, how can modern audiences understand and interpret classic works of drama? In Tragedy in the Age of Oprah: Essays on Five Great Plays, Louis Fantasia provides a provocative examination of the relationship between popular culture and classical tragedy. Making a persuasive argument for the lessons tragedy has to offer today's audiences, Fantasia examines five enduring works of theatre: Euripides' Medea, William Shakespeare's King Lear, Jean Racine's Ph dre, Friedrich Schiller's Mary Stuart, and Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. Fantasia discusses in detail each of these plays, framing them in a contemporary context that explores the suffering, responsibility, and identity that tragedy advocates. Each play is presented as an engaging, powerful encounter for the reader, recreating as closely as possible the impact of a great performance. A unique look at the role classical theatre can and should play in contemporary society, these essays reveal the lessons great plays have to teach us about ourselves. Directed toward theatre professionals and students, Tragedy in the Age of Oprah will also resonate with anyone interested in theatre, literature, and cultural studies.

Tragedy in the Age of Oprah

Tragedy in the Age of Oprah
Author: Louis Fantasia
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2012-12-21
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0810885093

In an era of Twitter and televised therapy, it may seem that classic theatre has little place in contemporary society. Accustomed to the indulgences of a celebrity-driven culture, how can modern audiences understand and interpret classic works of drama? In Tragedy in the Age of Oprah: Essays on Five Great Plays, Louis Fantasia provides a provocative examination of the relationship between popular culture and classical tragedy. Making a persuasive argument for the lessons tragedy has to offer today’s audiences, Fantasia examines five enduring works of theatre: Euripides’ Medea, William Shakespeare’s King Lear, Jean Racine’s Phèdre, Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart, and Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. Fantasia discusses in detail each of these plays, framing them in a contemporary context that explores the suffering, responsibility, and identity that tragedy advocates. Each play is presented as an engaging, powerful encounter for the reader, recreating as closely as possible the impact of a great performance. A unique look at the role classical theatre can and should play in contemporary society, these essays reveal the lessons great plays have to teach us about ourselves. Directed toward theatre professionals and students, Tragedy in the Age of Oprah will also resonate with anyone interested in theatre, literature, and cultural studies.

Kasey to the Rescue

Kasey to the Rescue
Author: Ellen Rogers
Publisher: Hyperion
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2010-11-02
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 1401396305

This is a story of how miracles DO happen. How courage and a never-give-up spirit can emerge victorious. How an engaging little monkey helped change a family's life. Ellen Rogers considered herself something of a tragedy snob. The single mother of five believed she could weather any storm, that she could keep her family from harm with fortitude and grace. But nothing could have prepared her for the June 2005 car accident that left her son, Ned--then 22 years old--fighting for his life. Ellen refused to give in to despair. We'll get through this, she told herself. We have to. But love and determination can only go so far, and the road home was fraught with obstacles. Ellen and Ned took comfort in family and friends. And they prayed for a miracle. Miracles happen to those who believe, the saying goes, but who would have believed that one family's "miracle" would weigh in at five pounds sopping wet? Then Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled provided Ned with an affectionate and intelligent service animal with a steadfast devotion to hierarchy, a longing for "spa days," and a craving for Gummi Bears. In other words, a diva. Life with Kasey was yet another challenge for this large and lively family, but they persevered as families do, and in time this wise and sensitive animal did more than help Ned cope with his disabilities--she turned the simple tasks of life into a life worth living. Kasey's astonishing intelligence and compassion brought hope and laughter back to a family facing its greatest challenge, and helped them see the world in a new way.

The Trayvon Generation

The Trayvon Generation
Author: Elizabeth Alexander
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1538737906

From a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author and poet comes a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America's unresolved problem with race. *Named a Most Anticipated Title of 2022 by TIME magazine, New York Times, Bustle, and more* In the midst of civil unrest in the summer of 2020 and following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, Elizabeth Alexander—one of the great literary voices of our time—turned a mother's eye to her sons’ and students’ generation and wrote a celebrated and moving reflection on the challenges facing young Black America. Originally published in the New Yorker, the essay incisively and lovingly observed the experiences, attitudes, and cultural expressions of what she referred to as the Trayvon Generation, who even as children could not be shielded from the brutality that has affected the lives of so many Black people. The Trayvon Generation expands the viral essay that spoke so resonantly to the persistence of race as an ongoing issue at the center of the American experience. Alexander looks both to our past and our future with profound insight, brilliant analysis, and mighty heart, interweaving her voice with groundbreaking works of art by some of our most extraordinary artists. At this crucial time in American history when we reckon with who we are as a nation and how we move forward, Alexander's lyrical prose gives us perspective informed by historical understanding, her lifelong devotion to education, and an intimate grasp of the visioning power of art. This breathtaking book is essential reading and an expression of both the tragedies and hopes for the young people of this era that is sure to be embraced by those who are leading the movement for change and anyone rising to meet the moment.

A Pearl in the Storm

A Pearl in the Storm
Author: Tori Murden McClure
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2009-04-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0061718866

"In the end," writes Tori McClure, "I know I rowed across the Atlantic to find my heart, but in the beginning, I wasn't aware that it was missing." During June 1998, Tori McClure set out to row across the Atlantic Ocean by herself in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. Within days she lost all communication with shore, but nevertheless she decided to keep going. Not only did she lose the sound of a friendly voice, she lost updates on the location of the Gulf Stream and on the weather. Unfortunately for Tori, 1998 is still on record as the worst hurricane season in the North Atlantic. In deep solitude and perilous conditions, she was nonetheless determined to prove what one person with a mission can do. When she was finally brought to her knees by a series of violent storms that nearly killed her, she had to signal for help and go home in what felt like complete disgrace. Back in Kentucky, however, Tori's life began to change in unexpected ways. She fell in love. At the age of thirty-five, she embarked on a serious relationship for the first time, making her feel even more vulnerable than sitting alone in a tiny boat in the middle of the Atlantic. She went to work for Muhammad Ali, who told her that she did not want to be known as the woman who "almost" rowed across the Atlantic Ocean. And she knew that he was right. In this thrilling story of high adventure and romantic quest, Tori McClure discovers through her favorite way—the hard way—that the most important thing in life is not to prove you are superhuman but to fully to embrace your own humanity. With a wry sense of humor and a strong voice, she gives us a true memoir of an explorer who maps her world with rare emotional honesty.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Author: David Wroblewski
Publisher: Bond Street Books
Total Pages: 578
Release: 2009-03-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307371891

An Oprah's Book Club Pick A #1 New York Times Bestseller A National Bestseller Beautifully written and elegantly paced, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is a coming-of-age novel about the power of the land and the past to shape our lives. It is a riveting tale of retribution, inhabited by empathic animals, prophetic dreams, second sight, and vengeful ghosts. Born mute, Edgar Sawtelle feels separate from the people around him but is able to establish profound bonds with the animals who share his home and his name: his family raises a fictional breed of exceptionally perceptive and affable dogs. Soon after his father's sudden death, Edgar is stunned to learn that his mother has already moved on as his uncle Claude quickly becomes part of their lives. Reeling from the sudden changes to his quiet existence, Edgar flees into the forests surrounding his Wisconsin home accompanied by three dogs. Soon he is caught in a struggle for survival—the only thing that will prepare him for his return home.

Where Has Oprah Taken Us?

Where Has Oprah Taken Us?
Author: Stephen Mansfield
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Actors
ISBN: 9781410443762

Chronicles the media icon's rejection of her Baptist roots, and her acceptance and promotion of church-free spirituality.

She's Come Undone

She's Come Undone
Author: Wally Lamb
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 517
Release: 2012-12-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1471105342

Meet Dolores Price. She's thirteen, wise-mouthed but wounded. Beached like a whale in front of her bedroom TV, she spends the next few years nourishing herself with the chocolate, crisps and Pepsi her anxious mother supplies. When she finally rolls into young womanhood at 257 pounds, Dolores is no stronger and life is no kinder. But this time she's determined to rise to the occasion and give herself one more chance before really going belly up. In his extraordinary coming-of-age odyssey, Wally Lamb invites us to hitch an incredible ride on a journey of love, pain, and renewal with the most heartbreakingly comical heroine to come along in years. At once a fragile girl and a hard-edged cynic, so tough to love yet so inimitably loveable, Dolores is as poignantly real as our own imperfections.

Love in the Time of Cholera (Illustrated Edition)

Love in the Time of Cholera (Illustrated Edition)
Author: Gabriel García Márquez
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593310853

A beautifully packaged edition of one of García Márquez's most beloved novels, with never-before-seen color illustrations by the Chilean artist Luisa Rivera and an interior design created by the author's son, Gonzalo García Barcha. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.