Advanced search Subscribe to our newsletter and you'll continuously be informed about our new books, series and journals. You can customize this e-mail newsletter to your particular needs and interests. Newsletters include special discount codes. To subscribe or change existing preferences press the subscribe button	Series and Journals Clowns, Fools and Picaros. Popular Forms in Theatre, Fiction and Film. ROBB, David (Ed.) Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2007, VI, 233 pp. Illustrated. Pb: 978-90-420-2340-6 € 47 / US$ 63 Series: At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries 43 “[a] facinating book … this book’s strength is to be found in its multi-dimensional, multi-role, identity” Dramatherapy, Vol. 30, No 2, Autumn 2008 By its very nature the clown, as represented in art, is an interdisciplinary phenomenon. In whichever artform it appears – fiction, drama, film, photography or fine art – it carries the symbolic association of its usage in popular culture, be it ritual festivities, street theatre or circus. The clown, like its extended family of fools, jesters, picaros and tricksters, has a variety of functions all focussed around its status and image of being “other.” Frequently a marginalized figure, it provides the foil for the shortcomings of dominant discourse or the absurdities of human behaviour. Clowns, Fools and Picaros represents the latest research on the clown, bringing together for the first time studies from four continents: Europe, America, Africa and Asia. It attempts to ascertain commonalities, overlaps and differences between artistic expressions of the “clownesque” from these various continents and genres, and above all, to examine the role of the clown in our cultures today. This volume is of interest for scholars of political and comic drama, film and visual art as well as scholars of comparative literature and anthropology. Contents David ROBB: Introduction Robert CHEESMOND: Where the Antic Sits Faye RAN: Modern Tragicomedy and the Fool Ashley TOBIAS: The Postmodern Theatre Clown Rüdiger GÖRNER: Nietzsche and the Praise of Masks Maxim Leonid WEINTRAUB: Clowning Around at the Limits of Representation: On Fools, Fetishes and Bruce Naumann’s Clown Torture Barbara LEWIS: An American Circus: the Lynch Victim as Clown Kayode Gboyega KOFOWOROLA: The Court Jester in Nigerian Drama Ron JENKINS: “Fratello Arlecchino”: Clowns, Kings, and Bombs in Bali Stephen KNAPPER: Scaramouche: The Mask and the Millenium Des O’RAWE: The Cinema of Masks: Commedia dell ‘Arte and Jean Renoir’s The Golden Coach David ROBB: From Nestroy to Wenzel & Mensching: Carnivalesque Revolutionaries in the German-Speaking Theatrical Tradition Marina KOTZAMANI: Karlos Koun, Karaghiozis and The Birds: Aristophanes as Popular Theatre Stephen LLANO: The Clown as Social Critic: Kerouac’s Vision Bernhard MALKMUS: Picaresque Narratology: Lazarillo de Tormes and Edgar Hilsenrath’s Der Nazi und der Friseur David Robb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Languages, Literatures and Performing Arts at the Queen’s University of Belfast. He developed an interest in theatrical clowning while researching his PhD on the East Berlin cabaret duo Wenzel & Mensching, who integrated aspects of commedia dell’arte into their political song act. David Robb’s book Zwei Clowns im Lande des verlorenen Lachens: Das Liedertheater Wenzel & Mensching was published in 1998. He is a specialist in German political song and has recently published the book Protest Song in East and West Germany since the 1960s. He is also an experienced songwriter and performing musician.	Tijnmuiden 7 1046 AK Amsterdam The Netherlands T: +31-20-611 48 21 F: +31-20-447 29 79 248 East 44th Street - 2nd floor New York, NY 10017 USA T: 1-800-225-3998 F: 1-800-853-3881 Toll-free in the USA info@rodopi.nl