Allyn & Bacon

Communication, Film & Theatre

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Performance in Life and Literature
Paul H. Gray, University of Texas at Austin
James Van Oosting, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

ISBN-10: 0205140459
ISBN-13: 9780205140459

Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
Copyright: 1996
Format: Paper; 320 pp
Published: 01/26/1996

Suggested retail price: $73.40
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Written by two leading scholars in the field, Performance in Life and Literature is a text-centered approach to performance of literature that draws on interpersonal communication theory for its procedure. The text presents a single approach to the development of literary performance that relates to theory and practice in other areas of speech communication: public speaking and conversational analysis. It builds upon what the student has already mastered — the performance of language in everyday life. This accessible text provides the theory from literary/performance examples in which the instructor can adapt his/her examples and utilize the text for class discussion and performance.

  • Distinguished authorship.
  • Chapter 1 begins with what the student knows about performance — everyday conversation.
  • Text is organized around communicative rather than literary or dramatic concepts.
  • In every chapter, discussions begin with performance situations (specific literature; certain performance situations, defined problems to be encountered) in which the theory comes out of the problem-solving process rather than being imposed on the problem.
  • All chapters have discussion questions within and at the end of chapters. The text then can serve as the subject for in class discussion.
  • The last section of the text is arranged in traditional genre organization. This offers flexibility for the instructor to teach the material as desired.
  • Authors write in one voice as well as in a lively, natural, conversational tone.
  • Reviewers have praised the approach, writing style, and tone.
  • Each chapter contains chapter introductions, case studies, worked problems, end-of-chapter problems, answers/solutions, experiential exercises, chapter summaries (except for chapter 7) and thought-provoking discussion questions.
  • An appendix lists additional literary selections for students' reference.



1. Everyday and Literary Performance.

Reading Well/Performing Well.

Case in Point: Conversational Performance.

It's Gun be Hard to Do.

Performing Lived Language.

Performing Language: Four Principles.

World Effect Sense Genre Exercise and Discussion.

A Second Conversation.

Making a Difference.

Realizing Language.

Good Reading.

Exercise and Discussion.

Rehearsing Life.

Summary.



2. Performing in the World of Language.

How Language Creates Worlds.

Space in the Worlds of Literature.

At the IGA: Franklin, New Hampshire.

Exercise and Discussion.

I'm Bound to Follow the Longhorn Cows.

Questions for Discussion.

Time in the Worlds of Literature.

The Sudden Appearance of a Monster at a Window.

Exercise and Discussion.

A Supermarket in California.

Theory and Practice.

Speakers in the World of Literature.

Speakers and their Listeners Exercise and Discussion Speakers and Space/Time One Home The Sense of Place Speakers and Action The Whipping.

Admission of Failure.

Summary.



3. Performing the Effects of Language.

Inferring Effect.

Two Friends.

Moving from Analysis to Performance.

Playing in Everyday Life and in Literature.

Effect and the Authorial Frame.

Discussion.

The Single Voice.

From The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

From A Room of One's Own.

Performing Listeners.

Questions for Discussion.

Where are the Waters of Childhood.

Questions for Discussion.

Preparing to Perform the Listener.

Exercise: Becoming Resourceful.

Talking to Oneself.

From The Diary of Alice James.

Authorial Effect Revisited.

Bleeding.

From The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

From The Wonders of the Invisible World.

Multiple Effects: Medicine Woman.

Questions for Discussion.

Summary.



4. Performing the Plain Sense of Language.

What's the Role of Sense-Making?

Personal Significance.

Social Significance.

How Vocal Performance Makes Sense.

Biography.

From The Merchant of Venice.

Like Most Revelations.

Sense and Irony.

Exercise and Discussion.

Miniver Cheevy.

Nostalgia.

Sense in the Form of Argument.

Exercise and Discussion The House on the Hill.

How Characters Make Sense of Each Other.

Your Lover Just Called.

Sense, Gesture, and Stance.

Making Sense Inside and Out.

Making Sense Happen through Images and Figurative Language.

Giant Snail.

Issues for Discussion.

Summary.



5. Performing Poetic Language.

Poetry and the Language of Everyday.

Cars Businessmen Drive.

Rick and Pam.

The Lyricism of the Weak.

Inside the Poetic Sensibility.

Patterns in Poetic Speech.

Patterns Involving the Eye Watermelons Master Charge Blues In Just- Patterns Involving the Ear Root Cellar The Amish Patterns Involving the Mind Patterns Involving the Whole Earth Dweller The Elder Sister.

Analyzing a Poem: Epilogue.

Summary.



6. Performing Narrative.

Narratives in Life and Literature.

Exercise and Discussion.

Stories and Storytellers.

Narrative is Performance.

A Teller, a Listener, and the Tale Told.

An Old Story.

Listening is Part of the Telling.

Understanding Narrators.

David and Goliath.

The David of Michelangelo.

Listening to Narrative Strategies.

Questions for Discussion.

Performing Narrative Strategies.

Selection Sequence Quotation Pace Questions for Discussion.

Performing Point of View.

Exercise and Discussion.

Analyzing a Story: The Witch.

Summary.



7. Performance as a Way of Knowing.

Performance as Assent.

Performance as Resistance.

Resisting Genre: Narratizing Drama Resisting the Text: Intertextualizing.

Language in Performance.

Afterword: Two Personal Narratives.

An Unsolicited Gift.

sista docta.



Appendix.

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Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students contact your Pearson Higher Education representative.


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