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Eric Bentley (1916–2020)

Author of The Theory of the Modern Stage: An Introduction to Modern Theatre and Drama

76+ Works 2,208 Members 17 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Eric Bentley is the Brander Matthews Professor of Dramatic Literature, Emeritus, at Columbia University.

Includes the names: Eric Bently, Eric Bently, Ed Eric Bentley, Ed. Eric Bentley, comp Eric Bentley, Eric Bently Editor, edit. Eric Bentley, ed by Eric Bentley, Eric Bentley Editor, editor Eric Bentley, editor Eric Bentley, Eric - Edit. Bentley, Eric Russell Bentley, Edited: Eric Bentley, Eric Bentley (Editor), Edited by Eric Bentley, Eric Bentley ( Editor ), REVISED BY: ERIC BENTLEY, Eric Bentley (Edited by), Ed. Eric Russell Bentley

Image credit: Michael Amsler

Series

Works by Eric Bentley

The Theory of the Modern Stage: An Introduction to Modern Theatre and Drama (1968) 180 copies
Shaw on Music (1955) — Editor — 126 copies
The Modern Theatre, Volume 1 (1950) 108 copies
The Playwright as Thinker: A Study of Drama in Modern Times (1946) 102 copies
The Life of the Drama (1964) 94 copies
The Classic Theatre Volume I: Six Italian Plays (1958) — Editor — 89 copies
Thirty Years of Treason: Excerpts from Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1938-1968 (1971) — Editor — 86 copies
"Life Is a Dream" and Other Spanish Classics (Eric Bentley's Dramatic Repertoire Volume Two) (1985) 82 copies
The Classic Theatre Volume III (1959) 82 copies
The Classic Theatre Volume II Five German Plays (1959) 81 copies
The Modern Theatre, Volume 2 (1955) 80 copies
The Classic Theatre; Volume IV: Six French Plays (1961) 80 copies
The Modern Theatre, Volume 6 (1960) 80 copies
The Modern Theatre, Volume 3 (1955) 73 copies
The classic theatre (1958) 65 copies
The Servant of Two Masters & Other Italian Classics (Paperback) (Eric Bentley's Dramatic Repertoire) (2000) 63 copies
In Search of Theater (1923) 59 copies
Bernard Shaw (1947) 54 copies
The Misanthrope and Other French Classics (Eric Bentley's Dramatic Repertoire ; V. 3) (2000) 45 copies
The Modern Theatre, Volume 5 (1957) 43 copies
What Is Theatre?: Incorporating The Dramatic Event and Other Reviews, 1944-1967 (1956) 37 copies
The Brecht commentaries 1943-1986 (1981) 36 copies
The Modern Theatre, Volume 4 (1956) — Editor — 36 copies
The Brecht Memoir (1986) 29 copies
The genius of the Italian theater (1964) 26 copies
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (1972) 25 copies
Lord Alfred's Lover (1981) 24 copies
Let's Get a Divorce! And Other Plays (1958) 24 copies
Thinking about the Playwright: Comments from Four Decades (1987) 22 copies
Gay Plays: Four (1990) — Contributor — 21 copies
Theatre of War: Modern Drama from Ibsen to Brecht (1972) 20 copies
A century of hero-worship; a study of the idea of heroism in Carlyle and Nietzsche (1944) 19 copies
Rallying Cries (1977) 19 copies
From the Modern Repertoire Series Two (1952) 14 copies
The recantation of Galileo Galilei;: Scenes from history perhaps (Harper colophon books/CN) (1972) 13 copies
The Play: A Critical Anthology (1951) 13 copies
From the Modern Repertoire Series Three (1952) 12 copies
The theatre of commitment, and other essays on drama in our society (1967) 12 copies
The Great Playwrights: Twenty-Five Plays with Commentaries by Critics and Scholars (Vol. 1 & 2) (1970) 11 copies
Pirandello Commentaries (Pirandellian Studies) (1986) 10 copies
Bentley on Brecht (2000) 10 copies
From the Modern Repertoire Series One (1949) 10 copies
The storm over The deputy (1964) 10 copies
The Dramatic Event (1954) 9 copies
The importance of Scrutiny; selections from Scrutiny, a quarterly review, 1932-1948 (1948) 9 copies
Before Brecht: Four German Plays (Eric Bentley's Dramatic Repertoire, Vol 1) (2000) 9 copies
Monstrous Martyrdoms: 3 Plays by Eric Bentley (1985) 8 copies
A time to die, and A time to live : two short plays, (1970) 4 copies
The Kleist Variations: Three Plays (1990) 3 copies
The Play and its critic : essays for Eric Bentley (1986) 3 copies
DRAMATIC EVENT (1957) 3 copies
The Great Playwrights, Volume 2; (1970) 3 copies
The cult of the superman; a study of the idea of heroism in Carlyle and Nietzsche, with notes on other hero-worshippers… (1969) 2 copies
Round Two (2008) 2 copies
From the modern repertoire, (1965) 2 copies
The Great Playwrights, Volume 1; (1970) 2 copies
LETS GET A DIVORCE! AND OTHER PLAYS WITH AN ESSAY ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FARCE (1958) 2 copies
The Modern Theatre: A Six Volume Set 2 copies
Thirty Years of Treason, Volume 3: Excerpts from Hearings Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 1953… (2014) 2 copies
The Play. a Critical Anthology 2 copies
The Classic Theatre Volume One: Six Italian Plays 1 copy
Wolf Biermann: The Wire Harp: Ballads / Poems / Songs 1 copy
The Theatre of Commitment, and Other Essays on Drama in Our Society. (1967) 1 copy
O Teatro Engajado 1 copy
The Modern Theatre, Volume One: five plays 1 copy
The Classic Theatre Six Spanish Plays Volume Three 1 copy
The Servant of Two Masters & Other Italian Classics (Paperback): And Other Italian Classics (Applause Books Book 4) 1 copy
The storm over The deputy, edited by Eric Bentley 1 copy
Playwright as thinker: a Study of the Modern Theatre 1 copy
Plays by Webster & Tourneur (2018) 1 copy
The Great Playwrights , Vol's. 1 and 2 1 copy
The Fall of the Amazons 1 copy
The Harmfulness of Tobacco 1 copy
Riverside Bentley on Brecht 1 copy
Wedekind Cabaret, The (2008) 1 copy
From the Modern Repertoire. Series One 1 copy
Work Explorer

Associated Works

Pygmalion (1913) — some editions — 6,794 copies
Mother Courage and Her Children (1939) — Translator, some editions — 2,394 copies
Life of Galileo (1940) — Editor, some editions — 2,266 copies
The Threepenny Opera (1976) — Translator, some editions — 1,632 copies
The Good Woman of Setzuan (1938) — Translator, some editions — 1,217 copies
The Caucasian chalk circle (1944) — Translator, some editions — 1,120 copies
Arms and the Man (1894) — Contributor, some editions — 1,099 copies
Naked Masks: Five Plays (1952) — Editor — 640 copies
Plays by George Bernard Shaw (1960) — Editor — 497 copies
Woyzeck (1879) — Translator, some editions — 459 copies
The Good Woman of Setzuan / The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1948) — Translator, some editions — 359 copies
Six Plays of Strindberg (1955) — Introduction — 358 copies
Baal / A Man's a Man / The Elephant Calf (1918) — Editor, some editions — 165 copies
Manual of Piety (1927) — Translator, some editions — 142 copies
Anton Chekhov's Plays [Norton Critical Edition, 1st ed.] (1977) — Contributor — 137 copies
The Brute and Other Farces (1958) — Editor; Editor — 50 copies
Modern Drama: Authoritative Texts Backgrounds and Criticism (1966) — Contributor — 45 copies
O'Neill: A Collection of Critical Essays (1964) — Contributor — 30 copies
Oscar Wilde: A Collection of Critical Essays (1969) — Contributor — 26 copies
New American Review #4 (1968) 14 copies
New American Review 8 (1970) — Contributor — 13 copies
Chekhov: New Perspectives (1984) — Contributor — 11 copies
The Brecht-Eisler Song Book (1992) — Editor — 11 copies
Brute, The (1984) — Translator, some editions — 4 copies
Barry Humphries' Weimar Cabaret [programme] — Translator — 1 copy
Mother Courage and her children (1969) — Adaptor — 1 copy

Tagged

19th century (62) 20th century (326) anthology (176) Bertolt Brecht (52) Brecht (186) British (70) British literature (83) classic (241) classics (273) comedy (63) drama (2,233) England (78) English (55) English literature (70) epic theatre (55) fiction (787) Galileo (49) German (498) German drama (73) German literature (443) Germany (151) humor (67) Irish (49) literature (446) London (50) music (52) non-fiction (50) own (48) paperback (61) play (762) plays (1,196) playscript (50) read (200) science (61) script (146) theatre (1,062) to-read (485) translation (113) unread (90) war (57)

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

The Theory of the Modern Stage: An Introduction to… by Eric Bentley
Hhmm.. Welp, my copy is a hardback from 1972 - but this edition is close enuf. This has writings by Antonin Artaud, Bertold Brecht, & E. Gordon Craig - amongst many others - but these 3 are probably enuf to get across the idea of why I'm giving it a high rating. Craig, if I remember correctly, proposed a theater of all sets, lighting & motion - W/O actors. Now, I skimming thru his section of this bk & I see no reference to that & I don't know if Craig actually ever realized those ideas or even if I'm confused about the whole business. Nonetheless, it's largely b/c of my association of Craig w/ such things that I give this bk the rating I do. At any rate, this is probably the largest concentration of theater theory that I've ever read & it's important to me for that alone. I've gone thru the "plays" section of my library - picking out the ones I've read to list here on GoodReads. It's interesting to see the collection of plays that I have & to then see how few of them I've read. It reminds me that I don't like reading plays much. &, as w/ all my attempts to scratch the surface of what I've read, it makes me want to read MORE, MORE!… (more)
 
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tENTATIVELY | 1 other review | Apr 3, 2022 |
Shaw on music by Bernard Shaw
Around four stars if you are not interested in opera. I'm not, yet consistently entertaining writing and trenchant criticism add a star, for anyone who enjoys those. Except:
Around three stars if you are not interested in classical music. Except:
Around two stars if you are interested in no music. Go away.
The first fifth is criticism of music criticism.
 
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KENNERLYDAN | 1 other review | Jul 11, 2021 |
The classic theatre : volume III : six Spanish plays by Eric Bentley
Vol. 3 includes: Fernando de Rojas, Celestina; Lope de Vega, Fuente Ovejuna; Tirso de Molina, The Trickster of Seville; Calderón de la Barca, Life is a dream and Love after death; Miguel de Cervantes, The Siege of Numantia.
 
Flagged
deckla | 1 other review | Aug 20, 2018 |
The classic theatre : volume I : six Italian plays by Eric Bentley
Vol. 1 includes: Machiavelli, The Mandrake; Beoleo, Ruzzante returns from the wars; Anonymous, The Three Cuckolds; Goldoni, The Servant of two masters; Goldoni, Mirandolina; Gozzi, The King Stag.
 
Flagged
deckla | Aug 20, 2018 |
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Alec Robertson Foreword
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Humphrey Trevelyan Translator
Frank Wedekind Contributor
Joseph Mellish Translator
James Kirkup Translator
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Tirso de Molina Contributor
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Fernando de Rojas Contributor
Félix Lope de Vega Carpio Contributor
Carl Sternheim Contributor
Max Beerbohm Contributor
Friedrich Schiller Contributor
Heinrich von Kleist Contributor
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Contributor
Arthur Schnitzler Contributor
W. B. Yeats Contributor
Alexander Ostrovsky Contributor
Joseph Conrad Contributor
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Eugène Labiche Contributor
Michel de Ghelderode Contributor
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Jo Swerling Contributor
William Saroyan Contributor
Thornton Wilder Contributor

Statistics

Works
76
Also by
26
Members
2,208
Popularity
#11,613
Rating
3.8
Reviews
17
ISBNs
119
Languages
3
Favorited
1

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