Grand-Guignolesque

Richard J. Hand is Professor of Media Practice and Head of Drama at the University of East Anglia. He is the co-editor of the Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance. He has a particular interest in cross-media forms of popular culture - especially horror - and explores adaptation, transmedia and interdisciplinarity using critical and creative methodologies.Michael Wilson is Professor of Drama and Head of Creative Arts at Loughborough University, where he is also Director of the Storytelling Academy, a research and teaching collective in Applied Storytelling. His main research interests lie broadly within the field of popular and vernacular performance, especially in storytelling, crime drama and horror theatre.

• Contents PrefaceChapter 1. Establishing the Grand-GuignolesqueChapter 2. The Grand-Guignol’s Contemporary Imitators and CompetitorsChapter 3: The New WaveChapter 4: AfterwordAppendix: The Molotov Manifesto, or Acting Grand Guignol, Molotov Style Thirteen Plays of Grand-Guignol and the Grand-Guignolesque Professor Verdier’s Operations (Les Opérations du Professeur Verdier, 1907) by Élie de BassanShort Circuit (Le Court-Circuit, 1916) by Benjamin Rabier and Eugène JoullotThe Little House at Auteuil (La Petite Maison D’Auteuil, 1917) by Robert Scheffer and Georges LignereuxThe Unhinged (Les Détraquées, 1924) by Palau and OlafThe Eyes of the Phantom (Les Yeux du Spectre, 1924) by Jean AragnyThe Lover of Death (L’Amant de Mort, 1925) by Maurice RenardOrgy in the Lighthouse (L’Orgie dans le phare, 1956) adapted by Eddie Muller from Alfred Machard’s playThe Sticking Place (2008) by Lucas Maloney and Michael McMahon, with Alex ZavistovichA Room With No View (2009) by James ComtoisThe Ghost Hunter (2013) by Stewart Pringle We’ll Fix It! (2013) by Les WilliamsLeviticus: Evil Resides Within (2014) by Antonio RimolaAbel Hartmann's Grand-Guignol: A History of Violence (2015) by Dreamcatcher Horror Theatre BibliographyWebographyIndex

One of the things I like about it is the absence of the verbosity that sometimes ruins academic writing; Hand and Wilson write snappily and makes their points clearly...All in all, a very interesting book - I learned a good deal from it.