Continental European Books

No Exit and Three Other Plays

Jean-Paul Sartre

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Beautiful melancholy 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Sartre is sometimes given a reputation that far precedes him, as with many Nobel recipients. These plays are a testament against the skeptic's mindset.

"No Exit" is a modern-day interpretation of the antiquated "fire and brimstone" hell we are so accustomed to hearing about. Sartre adroitly picks up on the small idiosyncracies of human behavior and capitalizes on them with his version of hell. Three incompatible personalities are locked in a hot, stuffy hotel room for eternity, unable to get along with one another or reconcile their personal differences. The lights are always a bit too bright, the furniture a bit too stiff, and the wonder at "what lies down the hall" eats at the occupants for eternity. This is a far cry from biblical interpretations of hell, where an individual can mentally will themselves against pain. Instead, Sartre focuses on the interpersonal nature of unhappiness, and gives his spirits "one of those days" for eternity.

"Dirty Hands" is perhaps my favorite piece of literature. It plants its focus on a young intellectual revolutionary intent on assassinating a corrupt party leader. As he grows closer to Hoederer, the man he is sent to kill, he comes to realize that pure intellectual theories will always become muddied in the waters of reality.

"The Respectful Prostitute" depicts a young woman, a prostitute, who spends the night with a man who turns out to be a politician. The man completes his sordid mission, but the next morning scorns the woman. An lesson in objectivity and the two-faced nature of those who tend to preach loudly.

"The Flies" is set in Ancient Greece, but possesses Sartre's aptitude for human behavior. Just as good as all the others, though not as indicative of how humans behave.

These are all plays, making them quite easy to read. The characters are not hard to keep straight. The ease of reading doesn't detract from their literary quality. These four plays are elegant simplicity at its finest.

Editorial Review:

4 plays about an existential portrayal of Hell, the reworking of the Electra-Orestes story, the conflict of a young intellectual torn between theory and conflict and an arresting attack on American racism.

Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts

Samuel Beckett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 163 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting and ... 4 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting and ...

Review of Play: Waiting for Godot - A Tragicomedy in Two Acts

Written in: 1949

Premiere in: 1953

By: Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989)

Originally written in French and translated to English by the author himself.

This play takes place on a desolate road next to a barren tree. There are two aimless men loitering and passing the time in discussion. They are soon joined by two others. The first act of the play lasts through one evening. The second act lasts through a second evening almost identical to the first. When ever the subject of leaving their spot arises, we learn that they can't leave because they are "Waiting for Godot" and need to stay at this particular spot on the road.

There is a sense of timelessness. The second evenings (second act) seems to be slightly altered copy of the first evening (first act). The characters are "Waiting for Godot" and for salvation. Their wait for salvation might well be endless since all of them are loath to face their true motives, their real needs, their personal wants and honest desires. They don't seem to know why they are "Waiting for Godot" or what Godot (God?) will bring them. When they mention suicide they flippantly dismiss the subject. One time they say they can not hang themselves because they have no rope when in fact there is a rope lying on the stage as one of the few props.

They appear to have voluntarily subjected themselves to a purgatory and don't have the courage or initiative to even question their situation.

The discussion ranges from an inane account of boots being too tight to sophistic meanderings on the purpose of life. The characters seem to relentlessly keep talking to avoid facing something. We are not privy to any of their pasts or in fact any personal information about any of the characters. They might have been meeting on the desolate road for an endless time, so that any past that they had is lost in the mist of their memories.

The nearly barren tree reminds them of a hanging tree and by implication a crucifixion cross. The tree dominates the stage background just as Godot dominates the lives; free choice and every expression of the four main characters. Does the milieu force the characters to think of salvation to the exclusion of a meaningful life? Could their need for salvation keep them trapped in a purgative existence where escape would be a form of condemnation which none of them could tolerate?

The play "Waiting for Godot" forces the reader to ask questions of him/her self.



Waiting for Godot

Krapp's Last Tape

Endgame and Act Without Words



I completely enjoyed and highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

A seminal work of twentieth century drama, Waiting for Godot was Samuel Beckett's first professionally produced play. It opened in Paris in 1953 at the tiny Left Bank Theatre de Babylone, and has since become a cornerstone of twentieth-century theater. The story line revolves around two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone — or something — named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree on a barren stretch of road, inhabiting a drama spun from their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as a somber summation of mankind's inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett's language pioneered an expressionistic minimalism that captured the existentialism of post-World War II Europe. His play remains one of the most magical and beautiful allegories of our time.

Cyrano De Bergerac

Edmond Rostand

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Cyrano de Bergerac 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I am glad that I purchased this book, but I was really looking for the French language version.

tres tres bein 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Cyrano De Bergerac is a moving tale about looking past appearances. its thought provoking and enlightening, and it reveals the profoundness that rests wihtin the human soul. it is about facing your fears and going after your dreams only to understand that true beauty is in the soul.it shows that things are not always what they appear and that people fall in love with your spirit not your face. its meaning is pure and true. it reveals the wonder of the mind and the beauty of the heart! it makes one realize that the heart wants what it knows and the mind knows what it wants!! the author uses irony in a clever and cruel way, showing that tragedy is the key to unlocking doors you previously didnt know existed.

a true love story 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

In my opinion, Cyrano De Bergerac would have been much better as a novel, rather than a play. However, the story line was smart and clever but got to be a bit confusing throughout some parts due to the play form. I do reccomend this book to somebody interested in plays, and love stories. Cyrano De Bergerac shows you 3 main characters who are truly in love.

Editorial Review:

Rostand's masterpiece-and the ultimate triumph of the great French romantic tradition-is the magnificent hero-for-all-seasons, Cyrano de Bergerac.

A Doll's House - Literary Touchstone Edition

Henrik Ibsen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ladies Be Carefull 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Ladies, if you're unhappy at home, this book is definately for you. Timeless, controversial, and very telling about the said plight of overly self-sacrificing women. It saddens me every time like the painful struggle of some sick child.
Guys, think you have a good perspective of women? Read this book and find out. A must have for any strongly introspective individual, be it man or woman. Enjoy!

Editorial Review:

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone EditionTM includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader contend with Ibsen’s approach to complex human interactions and the relationship between the sexes. Norwegian-born Henrik Ibsen’s classic play about the struggle between independence and security still resonates with readers and audience members today. Often hailed as an early feminist work, the story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: "To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the sake of social customs and to protect what we think is love?" Nora’s struggle and ultimate realizations about her life invite all of us to examine our own lives and find the many ways we have made ourselves dolls and playthings in the hands of forces we believe to be beyond our control.

Faust (Bantam Classics)

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental Faust, an audacious man boldly wagering with the devil, Mephistopheles, that no magic, sensuality, experience, or knowledge can lead him to a moment he would wish to last forever. Here, in Faust, Part I, the tremendous versatility of Goethe’s genius creates some of the most beautiful passages in literature. Here too we experience Goethe’s characteristic humor, the excitement and eroticism of the witches’ Walpurgis Night, and the moving emotion of Gretchen’s tragic fate.

This authoritative edition, which offers Peter Salm’s wonderfully readable translation as well as the original German on facing pages, brings us Faust in a vital, rhythmic American idiom that carefully preserves the grandeur, integrity, and poetic immediacy of Goethe’s words.

Spring Awakening: A Play

Frank Wedekind

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

First performed in Germany in 1906, Frank Wedekind’s controversial play Spring Awakening closed after one night in New York in 1917 amid charges of obscenity and public outrage. For the better part of the twentieth century Wedekind’s intense body of work was largely unpublished and rarely performed. Yet the play’s subject matter—teenage desire, suicide, abortion, and homosexuality—is as explosive and important today as it was acentury ago. Spring Awakening follows the lives of three teenagers, Melchior, Moritz, and Wendl, as they navigate their entry into sexual awareness. Unlike so many works that claim to tell the truth of adolescence, Spring Awakening offers no easy answersor redemption.

Today, one hundred years after the play’s first performance, a new musical version of this essential modern masterpiece is being hailed as the “best new musical . . . in a generation” (John Heilpern, The New York Observer). Franzen’s version of the text—for so long poorly served in English—is unique in capturing the bizarre and inimitable comic spirit that animates almost every line of this unrelentingly tragic play. There couldn’t be a better time for this thrilling, definitive new translation.

The Trial of God

Elie Wiesel

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Trial of Faith 5 out of 5 stars.
38 of 41 people found this review helpful.

While interred in Auschwitz, Elie Wiesel witnessed a trial. While such things are not unusual, this trial was. It was unusual because of the defendant: God. God was tried for violating the covenant by turning his back in silence on the Jewish people in their greatest hour of need. God was tried in absentia, without anyone present being willing to take on the role of God's defense attorney. God was declared guilty, after which the "court" prayed. Contradiction? Perhaps. But this incident, which served as the inspiration for *The Trial of God*, is part of the long Jewish tradition of arguing with God. While Job is God's most famous interlocuter, we cannot forget the dispute the founder of the Jewish people, Abraham, had with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The trial of God is really a trial of faith; this is why the "court" prayed. They are torn between their devotion to God and their complete disappointment in God's silence. This struggle of faith is the story of *The Trial of God*, in which it is the least faithful of all, Satan, that comes to God's defense. Wiesel is fond of retelling a story about two Holocaust survivors, one a rabbi, who meet after liberation. The survivor asks the rabbi how, after all that has happened, he can continue to believe in God. The rabbi retorts by asking how, after all that has happened, can the other *not* believe in God. Wiesel has often echoed this paradox in his own sentiments. This is the paradox which *the Trial of God* presents us; it is a story of doubting trust and trusting doubt which, as Wiesel suggests, might be reconcilable only in protest. Perhaps *The Trial of God* is Wiesel's act of faith; perhaps it is an act of condemnation. I suspect that for Wiesel it is both. Anyone who pays careful attention to this work will be highly rewarded by it, not because of the answers it gives (for it gives none), but (in good Wieselian style) for the questions it raises.

Editorial Review:

Set in a medieval European village where three itinerant Jewish actors put God on trial to answer for His silence during a pogrom, a powerful drama considers historical and especially post-Holocaust issues surrounding faith. Reprint.

Rhinoceros and Other Plays

Eugene Ionesco

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Surprisingly relevant for our times 5 out of 5 stars.
21 of 40 people found this review helpful.

One could do worse than to commemorate the installation of George W. Bush as President-apparent of the United States by reading "The Leader," one of the short plays in this collection. (My favorite quote these days: "But -- the Leader hasn't got a head!" "What's he need a head for when he's got GENIUS?") _Rhinoceros_ itself, of course, in its slow-motion documentation of the "rhinozation" of an entire populace, was originally a trope on the rise of Nazism, but could certainly be applied to the gradual rightward shift of the American political spectrum.

Editorial Review:

In Rhinoceros, as in his earlier plays, Ionesco startles audiences with a world that invariably erupts in explosive laughter and nightmare anxiety. A rhinoceros suddenly appears in a small town, tramping through its peaceful streets. Soon there are two, then three, until the “movement” is universal: a transformation of average citizens into beasts, as they learn to move with the times. Finally, only one man remains. “I’m the last man left, and I’m staying that way until the end. I’m not capitulating!”

Four Plays: The Bald Soprano; The Lesson; Jack, or the Submission; The Chairs

Eugene Ionesco

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ionesco! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

As history tells us, the Frenchman Eugene Ionesco was learning English in the late 1940s when he was struck by the arbitrary nature of the sentences used to teach foreign language. ("I have a dog. His name is Spot. My name is Duncan.") Their nihilism and nonsensicality became the basis for his first play, La cantatrice chauve -- The Bald Soprano. People mostly love it or hate it; I love it. "Experience teaches us that when one hears the doorbell ring it is because there is never anyone there." This is definitely fun. Of Ionesco, I will always say: Worth a read.

Impossible is nothing 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I sort of grew up with Ionesco. This crazy Romanian turned Frenchman with his absurd stage plays, the Bald Soprano and stuff like that, was synonym for art trash in yahoo speak. He wrote like abstract painters painted. Good honest citizens detested that kind of stuff and complained when theatres and museums who were subsidized by public funds played or diplayed it. Ionesco was the equivalent of Picasso in my home town red neck cultural perspective. (Please note that I am German, not Kentuckian.
Apologies to Kentucky, should I have said Oklahoma? Anyway, German backwoods are no different.)
Then I take a big leap with the time machine. No encounters with Ionesco since maybe the 60s. Plenty with Picasso though, who became one of my heroes (and one of my favorite writers, P. O'Brian, wrote a good biography, which I reviewed here, but I pulled the review out since nobody was interested).
And now my daughter, who is doing her IB with drama as elective subject, chose The Lesson for her graduation stage production. I read it first and told her she is crazy. Nobody can play this mad professor who kills his private students after endless absurd monologues on philology (which leads to calamity, as the maid says). As any self-respecting 18 year old would, she ignored my ignorant advice and did it anyway. She found a fantastic actress to do the mad old professor, a 16 year old American Chinese girl who must have been born for this part. And perfect fits for the pupil and the maid as well.
I have not had so much fun in a theatre for a long time. Hail to old Ionesco! And kudos to the producer and director of the play on this day!

Editorial Review:

The leading figure of absurdist theater and one of the great innovators of the modern stage, Eugene Ionesco did not write his first play, The Bald Soprano, until 1950. He went on to become an internationally renowned master of modern drama, famous for the comic proportions and bizarre effects that allow his work to be simultaneously hilarious, tragic, and profound.

Faust: A Tragedy (Norton Critical Editions)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Walter Arndt's translation of Faust reproduces the sense of the German original and Goethe's enormously varied metrics and rhyme schemes. This edition presents Parts I and II complete.

Cyrus Hamlin provides essential supporting material for this difficult text, and his Interpretive Notes have been expanded and reset in larger, easy-to-read type. Comments by Contemporaries includes short pieces by Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Carlyle, and Wilhelm von Humboldt.

Modern Criticism-comprised of ten essays newly added to the Second Edition-presents the perspectives of Stuart Atkins, Jaroslav Pelikan, Benjamin Bennett, Franco Moretti, Friedrich A. Kittler, Neil M. Flax, Marc Shell, Jane Brown, Hans Rudolf Vaget, and Marshall Berman. A Selected Bibliography is included.

About the series: No other series of classic texts achieves the editorial standard of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with contextual and critical materials that bring the work to life for students. Careful editing, first-rate translation, thorough explanatory annotations, chronologies, and selected bibliographies make each text accessible to students while encouraging in-depth study. Each volume in the series is printed on acid-free paper, and every text remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice of excellence for scholarship for students at more than 2,500 colleges and universities worldwide.