Literary Criticism - General & Miscellaneous, English Drama - 16th-17th Century - Elizabethan & Jacobean Eras - Shakespeare - Literary Criticism, English Drama - 16th-17th Century - Elizabethan & Jacobean Eras - Literary Criticism

Bottom Translation

Name: Bottom Translation
Author: Jan Kott
ISBN: 9780810107380

by Jan Kott, Lillian Vallee (Translator), Daniela Miedzyrzecka

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Synopsis

The Bottom Translation represents the first critical attempt at applying the ideas and methods of the great Russian critic, Mikhail Bakhtin, to the works of Shakespeare and other Elizabethans. Professor Kott uncovers the cultural and mythopoetic traditions underlying A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Dr. Faustus, and other plays. His method draws him to interpret these works in the light of the carnival and popular tradition as it was set forth by Bakhtin. The Bottom Translation breaks new ground in critical thinking and theatrical vision and is an invaluable source of new ideas and perspectives. Included in this volume is also an extraordinary essay on Kurosawa's "Ran" in which the Japanese filmmaker recreates King Lear.

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Editorials

Library Journal

Kott's Shakespeare, Our Contemporary (1964) can take much of the credit (or blame) for most radical interpretations of Shakespeare staged today. His newest collection of essays is not as revolutionary but is sometimes as stimulating. Kott examines Shakespeare and Marlowe in light of the critical theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, who found that the ancient and ritualistic tradition of the carnival is the basic inspiration of much literature and folklore. Kott alludes to numerous authors in support of this thesis (including Mann, Erasmus, and Levi-Strauss) but seldom elaborates fully how they are relevant. Consequently, the book leaves one somewhat enlightened but mostly frustrated.James Stephenson, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.