<b>Conor McPherson's The Seafarer: tinkering with tradition</b><br>

Autores

  • Roberto Ferreira da Rocha UFRJ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2010n58p357

Resumo

A reading of The Seafarer (2007), the  last published play by the Irish playwright Conor McPherson (1971- ), which aims to investigate the rich intertextuality that the work presents. The text echoes both canonic and popular renderings of the Faustian myth, those of Christopher Marlowe (c. 1564-1593) and Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832), as well as its folk rewritings. In The Seafarer McPherson conveys a complex portrait of a group of Irish working-class mates, who are enthralled in existential and gender conflicts. In this his fourth full-length ensemble play to reach both the London West End and New York Broadway (the first being The Weir of 1999) McPherson critically dialogues with the modernist and postmodernist dramatic tradition mainly through the works of John Middleton Synge (1871-1909), Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), Harold Pinter (1930-2008) and David Mamet (1947- ), without losing, however, a genuine sense of deep Irishness.

Biografia do Autor

Roberto Ferreira da Rocha, UFRJ

Roberto Ferreira da Rocha teaches Literatures in English, focusing particularly on the work of William Shakespeare and modern and contemporary British and Irish Drama, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He has got an MA in English Literature by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and a PhD by the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). He is the author of the chapter entitled "Hero or Villain: A Brazilian Coriolanus During the Period of the Military Dictatorship" in the volume Latin American Shakespeares, edited by Bernice Kliman and Rick Santos (2005), and the editor of Performances: Estudos de Literatura em Homenagem a Marlene Soares dos Santos (Rio de Janeiro: Contra Capa, 2007), with Luiz Paulo da Moita Lopes and Fabio Akcelrud Durão. He has published articles and done research in the following fields: Shakespearean Drama, Contemporary Drama and Film Adaptations of Literary Works.

Downloads

Publicado

2010-01-01

Edição

n. 58 (2010)

Seção

Artigos

Licença

A revista Ilha do Desterro publica artigos e resenhas inéditos, referentes as áreas de Inglês, Literaturas em Língua Inglesa e Estudos Culturais. Publica volumes mistos e/ou temáticos, com artigos e resenhas em inglês e português. 

Autores mantém os direitos autorais e concedem à revista o direito de primeira publicação, com o trabalho simultaneamente licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Attribution que permite o compartilhamento do trabalho com reconhecimento da autoria e publicação inicial nesta revista.


Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.