Michael Y Bennett
Biographic Data
| ID | 1071244 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Y Bennett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael Y |
| FAMILY NAME | Bennett |
| SIGNATURE | BENNETT M Y |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Wisconsin–Whitewater |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1311-0669 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1979 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Carrying the private in public: Language and performance in Susan Jahoda’s Flight Patterns
Blurring the lines between public and private language by displaying a series of hand-written letters and envelopes sent through the mail, Susan Jahoda’s Flight Patterns questions if the demarcation between public and private language is ever really possible. As a matter of central importance to studies of performance and rhetoric, ultimately, Jahoda suggests that performances of the self are constructed by language that is unavoidably, and simul…
Gated Communities? Regulating Migration in Early Modern Cities
Introduction: Modern Drama and the Translation of History’s Narratives
In order to make sense of the modern “history play,” the Introduction presents the three central assertions of this book. First, this Introduction explores the argument that the narration of the past is largely an act of translation. Second, given that the three chapters in this book are concerned with the historical timeframe related to the telos (which will be explained in more detail), I argue that we must understand these playwrights acting a…
Narrating the Past through Theatre: Four Crucial Texts
This cutting-edge title explores how narrating the past both conflicts and creates an interesting relationship with drama's 'continuing present' that arcs towards an unpredictable future. Theatre both
Dominance and the Triumph of the White Trickster Over the Black Picaro in Amiri Baraka's Great Goodness of Life: A Coon Show
Dominance and the Triumph of the White Trickster Over the Black Picaro in Amiri Baraka’s Great Goodness of Life: A Coon Show Michael Y. Bennett (bio) In the opening scene of Amiri Baraka’s Great Goodness of Life: A Coon Show (1966), Court Royal—”a middle-aged Negro man, gray haired, slight” (156)—is urged, with a “Come on” from the Voice of the Judge, towards the center of the stage and into the “center of the lights” (157). Court states his unea…
The Political and Civic Implications of Chicago's Unsuccessful Bid to Host the 2016 Olympic Games
Between 2006 and 2009, Chicago's political and civic leadership developed a bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ultimately selected Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Games, with Chicago finishing fourth among the finalist cities in the October, 2009, IOC voting. This article is based on 20 key informant interviews with members and staff of the Chicago 2016 Committee, neighborhood activists and organizationa…
Paris: Waiting for Godot and the Great Quarrel
1952 P aris was not a silent place . Earlier, after the bombs fell on Europe, there was not exactly calm after the storm. Even though a renewed hope in peace briefly followed the end of the war, immediately after there was the overwhelming prospect of rebuilding Europe after the devastation it had endured. 3 As I attempt to show, the nonlinear historical progression following WWII provided 1952 Paris with a situation rife with philosophical confl…
After the Great War: Contextualizing the Self in Italy and Six Characters in Search of an Author
Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) permanently changed the face and possibilities of theatre. The premiere of this play ruptured the history of the theatre: this constituted a “before” and an “after” moment. Starting with Ibsen and the theatrical realism that he gave rise to, playwrights put the “fourth wall” behind the audience: the audience, though invisible to the characters, was in the “room” with the characters. …
Introduction: Words, Space, and the Audience
In a large sense, Gay McAuley summarizes my entire book in the above paragraph. McAuleys extensive look at space in performance (as his book is also aptly titled) makes the elements of the theatre speak to one another: how do words and space, for example, affect one another and the meaning of the performance? To a degree, my book simply goes deeper into the issues that McAuley raises. However, my book is also concerned with how we—the audience—pr…
Victorian Ideals: Wilde Performances in the Importance of Being Earnest and Salome
H amlet says it best : “To be or not to be—that is the question.” 1 Oscar Wilde dramatizes this line in both The Importance of Being Earnest and Salome. However, I believe that Wilde takes Shakespeare’s line even one step further. Wilde contemplates the idea of both possibilities: to be and not to be (simultaneously). By juxtaposing these two disparate plays and bringing them into a productive dialogue with one another through the contemplation o…
Conclusion: The Epistemological Quandary over Improvisation, Impermanence, and Lack of a Script in Performance Art—An Interview with Coco Fusco
A s we have seen that matters of philosophy have an interesting way of weaving in and out of history, it makes for a very nice coincidence (or maybe explanation) that J. L. Austin’s theory of “performatives,” found in the posthumously published How to Do Things with Words (1962), was the result of aseries of 12 lectures Austin gave at Harvard University in 1955: the very same year that Johan Huizinga’s seminal Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Ele…
Cold War Tactics: Fear in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
T he C old W ar . The confrontation of global superpowers. Nuclear armament. The United States versus the Soviet Union. Democracy versus communism. Good versus evil. The United States was a scary place in 1962. The world had a lot to be afraid of. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Words, Space, and the Audience: The Theatrical Tension Between Empiricism and Rationalism
In this unique study, Michael Y. Bennett re-reads four influential modern plays alongside their contemporary debates between rationalism and empiricism to show how these monumental achievements were t
The Cartesian Beckett: The Mind-Body Split in Murphy and Happy Days
The Response to the Offstage Presence in Beckett's “Act Without Words I” and “Act Without Words II”
The question of who or what is the offstage presence in Samuel Beckett's “Act Without Words I” and “Act Without Words II” is, I argue, more or less unimportant when trying to interpret these two ve
Waiting for Godot (review)
Reviewed by: Waiting for Godot Michael Y. Bennett Waiting for Godot. By Samuel Beckett. Directed by Anthony Page. Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54, New York City. 11 April 2009. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot has had two labels firmly placed upon it: absurd and existential. But this particular production of the play raised two key questions: How can existentialism be so funny? How can seeming despair leave one in such a good mood? Anthon…
The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee (review)
Reviewed by: The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee Michael Y. Bennett The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee. Edited by Stephen Bottoms . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; pp. 263. $65.00 cloth, $25.99 paper. The problem with so many collections of essays is that they lack an arc. This is not the case in this wonderful collection by some of the greatest Edward Albee scholars. This strong volume combines breadth of coverage with dept…
Books
March 01 2005 The Place of Law The Place of Law. Edited by SaratAustin , DouglasLawrence , and UmphreyMartha Merrill Michael Y. Bennett Michael Y. Bennett PhD student in English and American Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Michael Y. Bennett PhD student in English and American Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amhe…
Cities in the new millennium: Environmental justice, the spatialization of race, and combating anti-urbanism
Salome: The Reading (review)
It would be hard to think of any other word to describe the production history of Oscar Wilde's Salome than opulent. The work has been famously adapted as an opera and a ballet, and Peter Brook's production of Strauss's opera, with Dalí-designed sets and a dress made out of thousands of peacock feathers, is simply the most extreme example of the design excess that has been brought to both the play and its adaptations. Such opulence, which has at …
Crossing gaps ‐ cultural literacy and others
Autopsies on Fish Mummies: Possible Identification of the Classical Phagrus
The Political and Civic Implications of Chicago's Unsuccessful Bid to Host the 2016 Olympic Games
Between 2006 and 2009, Chicago's political and civic leadership developed a bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ultimately selected Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Games, with Chicago finishing fourth among the finalist cities in the October, 2009, IOC voting. This article is based on 20 key informant interviews with members and staff of the Chicago 2016 Committee, neighborhood activists and organizationa…
Autopsies on Fish Mummies: Possible Identification of the Classical Phagrus
Crossing gaps ‐ cultural literacy and others
Cities in the new millennium: Environmental justice, the spatialization of race, and combating anti-urbanism
Salome: The Reading (review)
It would be hard to think of any other word to describe the production history of Oscar Wilde's Salome than opulent. The work has been famously adapted as an opera and a ballet, and Peter Brook's production of Strauss's opera, with Dalí-designed sets and a dress made out of thousands of peacock feathers, is simply the most extreme example of the design excess that has been brought to both the play and its adaptations. Such opulence, which has at …
Books
March 01 2005 The Place of Law The Place of Law. Edited by SaratAustin , DouglasLawrence , and UmphreyMartha Merrill Michael Y. Bennett Michael Y. Bennett PhD student in English and American Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Michael Y. Bennett PhD student in English and American Literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amhe…
The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee (review)
Reviewed by: The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee Michael Y. Bennett The Cambridge Companion to Edward Albee. Edited by Stephen Bottoms . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; pp. 263. $65.00 cloth, $25.99 paper. The problem with so many collections of essays is that they lack an arc. This is not the case in this wonderful collection by some of the greatest Edward Albee scholars. This strong volume combines breadth of coverage with dept…
Waiting for Godot (review)
Reviewed by: Waiting for Godot Michael Y. Bennett Waiting for Godot. By Samuel Beckett. Directed by Anthony Page. Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54, New York City. 11 April 2009. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot has had two labels firmly placed upon it: absurd and existential. But this particular production of the play raised two key questions: How can existentialism be so funny? How can seeming despair leave one in such a good mood? Anthon…
Paris: Waiting for Godot and the Great Quarrel
1952 P aris was not a silent place . Earlier, after the bombs fell on Europe, there was not exactly calm after the storm. Even though a renewed hope in peace briefly followed the end of the war, immediately after there was the overwhelming prospect of rebuilding Europe after the devastation it had endured. 3 As I attempt to show, the nonlinear historical progression following WWII provided 1952 Paris with a situation rife with philosophical confl…
After the Great War: Contextualizing the Self in Italy and Six Characters in Search of an Author
Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) permanently changed the face and possibilities of theatre. The premiere of this play ruptured the history of the theatre: this constituted a “before” and an “after” moment. Starting with Ibsen and the theatrical realism that he gave rise to, playwrights put the “fourth wall” behind the audience: the audience, though invisible to the characters, was in the “room” with the characters. …
Introduction: Words, Space, and the Audience
In a large sense, Gay McAuley summarizes my entire book in the above paragraph. McAuleys extensive look at space in performance (as his book is also aptly titled) makes the elements of the theatre speak to one another: how do words and space, for example, affect one another and the meaning of the performance? To a degree, my book simply goes deeper into the issues that McAuley raises. However, my book is also concerned with how we—the audience—pr…
Victorian Ideals: Wilde Performances in the Importance of Being Earnest and Salome
H amlet says it best : “To be or not to be—that is the question.” 1 Oscar Wilde dramatizes this line in both The Importance of Being Earnest and Salome. However, I believe that Wilde takes Shakespeare’s line even one step further. Wilde contemplates the idea of both possibilities: to be and not to be (simultaneously). By juxtaposing these two disparate plays and bringing them into a productive dialogue with one another through the contemplation o…
Conclusion: The Epistemological Quandary over Improvisation, Impermanence, and Lack of a Script in Performance Art—An Interview with Coco Fusco
A s we have seen that matters of philosophy have an interesting way of weaving in and out of history, it makes for a very nice coincidence (or maybe explanation) that J. L. Austin’s theory of “performatives,” found in the posthumously published How to Do Things with Words (1962), was the result of aseries of 12 lectures Austin gave at Harvard University in 1955: the very same year that Johan Huizinga’s seminal Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Ele…
Cold War Tactics: Fear in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
T he C old W ar . The confrontation of global superpowers. Nuclear armament. The United States versus the Soviet Union. Democracy versus communism. Good versus evil. The United States was a scary place in 1962. The world had a lot to be afraid of. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Words, Space, and the Audience: The Theatrical Tension Between Empiricism and Rationalism
In this unique study, Michael Y. Bennett re-reads four influential modern plays alongside their contemporary debates between rationalism and empiricism to show how these monumental achievements were t
The Cartesian Beckett: The Mind-Body Split in Murphy and Happy Days
The Response to the Offstage Presence in Beckett's “Act Without Words I” and “Act Without Words II”
The question of who or what is the offstage presence in Samuel Beckett's “Act Without Words I” and “Act Without Words II” is, I argue, more or less unimportant when trying to interpret these two ve
Introduction: Modern Drama and the Translation of History’s Narratives
In order to make sense of the modern “history play,” the Introduction presents the three central assertions of this book. First, this Introduction explores the argument that the narration of the past is largely an act of translation. Second, given that the three chapters in this book are concerned with the historical timeframe related to the telos (which will be explained in more detail), I argue that we must understand these playwrights acting a…
Narrating the Past through Theatre: Four Crucial Texts
This cutting-edge title explores how narrating the past both conflicts and creates an interesting relationship with drama's 'continuing present' that arcs towards an unpredictable future. Theatre both
Dominance and the Triumph of the White Trickster Over the Black Picaro in Amiri Baraka's Great Goodness of Life: A Coon Show
Dominance and the Triumph of the White Trickster Over the Black Picaro in Amiri Baraka’s Great Goodness of Life: A Coon Show Michael Y. Bennett (bio) In the opening scene of Amiri Baraka’s Great Goodness of Life: A Coon Show (1966), Court Royal—”a middle-aged Negro man, gray haired, slight” (156)—is urged, with a “Come on” from the Voice of the Judge, towards the center of the stage and into the “center of the lights” (157). Court states his unea…
The Political and Civic Implications of Chicago's Unsuccessful Bid to Host the 2016 Olympic Games
Between 2006 and 2009, Chicago's political and civic leadership developed a bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ultimately selected Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Games, with Chicago finishing fourth among the finalist cities in the October, 2009, IOC voting. This article is based on 20 key informant interviews with members and staff of the Chicago 2016 Committee, neighborhood activists and organizationa…
Gated Communities? Regulating Migration in Early Modern Cities
Carrying the private in public: Language and performance in Susan Jahoda’s Flight Patterns
Blurring the lines between public and private language by displaying a series of hand-written letters and envelopes sent through the mail, Susan Jahoda’s Flight Patterns questions if the demarcation between public and private language is ever really possible. As a matter of central importance to studies of performance and rhetoric, ultimately, Jahoda suggests that performances of the self are constructed by language that is unavoidably, and simul…
Art (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Literature (9 works) · History (8 works) · Theatre and Performance Studies (8 works) · Aesthetics (7 works) · Art history (7 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Political science (6 works)