Comparative Criticism

Literary theory's stress on performance leads back, paradoxically, to the exploration of practical knowledge - skills, intuition, wisdom. Michael Robinson's leading article examines the mutually defining properties of (female) gender and performance in the nineteenth century.

Performance models have received increasing attention in the theoretical move towards open texts. Conceptions of open, reader-based or audience-based texts have paralleled the questioning of rational, authority-driven modes of knowledge. Literary theory's stress on performance leads back, paradoxically, to the exploration of practical knowledge. This volume contains the annual bibliography of comparative literature for the year 1989. It contains numerous intriguing articles. Michael Robinson's leading article examines the mutually defining properties of (female) gender and performance in the nineteenth century, whilst Drew Milne examines the challenge to Aristotle's theory of tragedy made by Augusto Boal's 'Theatre of the Oppressed' in Latin America. A rich variety of performance media and genres is presented in this volume. The important Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov is being performed again in new productions in Russia; Lesley Milne reports on The White Guard in Moscow and Kiev, and Patrick Miles translates the previously censored scenes of the play.