The Drama of Ideas

Philosophy and theater have often defined themselves in contrast to each other, sharing a mutual antipathy that manifests in a critical evasion. And yet the histories of philosophy and theater have in fact been crucially intertwined. Appointing Plato as a hinge figure, Puchner traces the long-standing philosophical register in drama and philosophy's more recent theatrical shift. The Drama of Ideas provides a broad, persuasive account of this alternative theatrical tradition, working his way from Plato to the Renaissance to Martha Nussbaum today, while dwelling most forcefully on the modern drama of Wilde, Shaw, Pirandello, and others.