New Messengers: Short Narratives in Plays by Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and August Wilson
New Messengers: Short Narratives in Plays by Michael Frayn, Tom Stoppard and August Wilson

Author(s): Tomáš Kačer
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Theory of Literature, Drama, British Literature, American Literature
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: New messenger; traditional drama; contemporary mainstream drama; plays; British playwrights; African-American playwright;
Summary/Abstract: The publication introduces the “new messenger” as a specific type of dramatic character, a follower of the conventional „messenger“ whose presence in traditional drama serves several purposes, which the new messenger also fulfills. What makes it different is the fact that it is not an independent character, but the role it has is assumed by major characters in contemporary mainstream drama, such as journalists and reporters, politicians and their assistants, scientists and teachers, detectives and police officers, historical characters, philosophers and literary scholars, etc. The publication provides examples of the use of this type in a series of case studies of plays by two British playwrights Michael Frayn and Tom Stoppard, and an African-American playwright August Wilson.

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