Choice Review

Originally published in Germany in 1977, the book in English translation is substantially revised in acknowledgement of the growth of theater semiotics in the last decade. Its aim is to outline a systematic general theory of drama uncontaminated by historical bias. Pfister identifies certain basic parameters, for example "closed" and "open" dramatic forms, and then examines the range of possibilities with reference to specific dramatic texts, preeminently Shakespeare. The result is an exhaustive taxonomy of drama. The division of the text into sections and subsections makes the book manageable and easy to consult. Its prose is lucid, its terminology accessible. Coincidentally, 1977 also saw the first edition of Anne Ubersfeld's Lire le theatre (4th ed., Paris, 1982). Although its goals and approach are very like Pfister's it is in many ways a richer book, more penetrating and (it must be added) more polemical. Within its chosen limits, however, Pfister's book makes a valuable contribution to dramatic theory. Of most use at upper-division undergraduate and graduate levels; necessary reading for academics in the field of dramatic criticism. -R. C. Nunn, Brock University