A compact anthology of contemporary French theatre bringing together six playwrights whose work helped reshape the stage after the dominance of postwar absurdism. 

The plays move through family conflict, political disillusionment, work, intimacy and social performance, but their real interest is often formal: fractured dialogue, unstable realism, silence, repetition and the pressure placed on ordinary speech. The anthology shows several competing approaches to what drama could still do in the late twentieth century, from Duras and Sarraute’s linguistic and psychological experiments to Vinaver’s attention to labour and everyday social structures.

Edited by Philippa Wehle, the collection includes Marguerite Duras, Nathalie Sarraute, Gildas Bourdet, Enzo Cormann, Michel Vinaver and Jean-Claude Grumberg. Includes translations and editorial material by Philippa Wehle.

PAJ Publications / Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. Second printing. Paperback. Light age-toning and shelf wear, with some rubbing and handling marks to covers and edges; internally clean and sound, binding firm. Very good condition.