Tragedy and Comedy Author:Walter Kerr In this, his most important work, Walter Kerr- drama critic of The New York Times, formerly critic for the New York Herald Tribune, and today's most influential writer on the American theater - discusses the development and meaning of the two enduring dramatic forms. — In his earlier books Mr. Kerr deliberately concentrated on the problems of con... more »temporary drama. Now he analyzes the masterpieces of the past - from Aristophanes and Shakespeare and Moliere to Chekhov - with the immediate commitment that he brings to bear on the performance of a new play. And he examines modern plays - the new theater of Beckett, Osborne, Albee and others - in the light of criteria traditionally only applied to the classics. With erudition and wit, and out of his intimate knowledge of the working theater, he arrives at a fresh definition of tragedy and comedy and uses it to offer an authoritative evaluation of the position of the theater today.« less