A Common Stage: Theater and Public Life in Medieval Arras

In the 13th century, two hundred years before the celebrated Corpus Christi cycles in England, vernacular plays were being performed and scripts being copied in the French town of Arras. Rather than merely describing the material within the categories of Aristotelian poetics or modern notions of theater, Symes (history, U. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign) argues that the malleable forms of the scripts and performances requires rethinking the role of drama in medieval public life. Annotation 穢2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)