Background
Murphy, Patrick Dennis was born on October 19, 1951 in Joliet, Illinois, United States.
( Staging the Impossible explores the most recent critica...)
Staging the Impossible explores the most recent critical thinking on the relationship between the literary mode of the fantastic and the literary genre of drama with respect to modern theatre. While a few monographs treat a particular dimension of the fantastic in drama, the Gothic or the fairy tale for instance, no other volume provides a critically sophisticated introduction to the diversity of fantastic drama written and performed in this century. The essays here lay to rest the illusion that realism is the only genuine form of theatrical expression and the notion that cinema special effects have rendered science fiction and the stage incompatible. Competing with the realism of the first half of the twentieth century and the new realism of the second half have been a range of successful theatrical repertoire, including the absurd, the horrific, the supernatural, the mythic, the dream-vision quest, the postmodern, the hyper-realistic, and the science fictional. Wide ranging in time and space, this volume comprises fourteen essays on the fantastic on the modern stage, assessing dramatic works from the United States, Ireland, England, Western Europe, and the Caribbean. Canonical figures, such as Strindberg, Yeats, Beckett, Ionesco, Cocteau, and Stoppard are studied, along with neglected figures, such as Wassily Kandinsky, better known as an expressionist painter, and Halper Leivick, author of the Yiddish play The Golem, and innovative new performance troupes and individual artists, such as Squat Theatre and Spalding Gray. Concluding essays are devoted to contemporary experimental theatre and postmodern drama. A study of science fiction on stage includes an annotated listing of forty English-language plays. Concerned with the interstice of theatre and the fantastic, this work will be valuable to students and scholars of both, of genre studies, and of contemporary literature in general.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0313272700/?tag=2022091-20
( In the 1990s, the emerging field of ecocriticism―nature...)
In the 1990s, the emerging field of ecocriticism―nature-sensitive literary studies―began to establish and define itself. Arguing that the field has matured to the point where it requires a thorough critique and new theoretical underpinnings, Patrick D. Murphy suggests a variety of ways ecocriticism can become more inclusive in its objects of study and more sophisticated in its methodologies. According to Murphy, ecocriticism in the United States has been too narrowly associated with the study of nonfiction. To broaden the field's purview, he proposes a new taxonomy that draws an important distinction between nature writing―a nonfiction essay form descended from Henry David Thoreau―nature literature, which includes fiction and poetry, and environmental literature, which is inspired by and concerned with a threatened natural world. He also urges ecocritics to expand their study to international literature, and he proceeds to survey nature-oriented prose from Central America, the Caribbean, southern Africa, Spain, and Japan. On a theoretical level, Murphy addresses the relationship of ecofeminism to postmodernism and provides interpretations of contemporary American multicultural and women's literature, including works by Gary Snyder, Simon Ortiz, Jane Brox, Pat Mora, Lori Anderson, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Sallie Tisdale, and Terry Tempest Williams. Applying his theories of ecocritical analysis to underappreciated or unknown literature, especially fiction and poetry by American women writers of color, Murphy introduces his fellow critics to authors ripe for ecocritical analysis. Murphy's wide-ranging book will no doubt serve as a watershed in the development of ecocriticism.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813919061/?tag=2022091-20
( Despite periods of heavy censorship and political oppos...)
Despite periods of heavy censorship and political opposition, science fiction has emerged in the People's Republic of China as a popular literary genre. This anthology of stories by six major Chinese science fiction writers is the first such collection to be published in English. The stories are enriched by China's ancient tradition of fantastic literature as well as that nation's fascination with futuristic science and technology, and they provide illuminating glimpses of Chinese attitudes, values, and daily life. Wu provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of Chinese science fiction together with a chronological bibliography of stories, novels, and related critical works. This fine anthology of eight stories by six authors shows that, while years behind the west in terms of maturity of the genre, China is catching up as fast as the state will allow. Editor Dingbo Wu's excellent introduction gives a historical overview of SF in China, while detailing the fluctuations of political acceptibility during the past decade. Publishers Weekly Despite periods of heavy censorship and political opposition, science fiction has emerged in the People's Republic of China as a popular literary genre. This anthology of stories by six major Chinese science fiction writers is the first such collection to be published in English. The stories are enriched by China's ancient tradition of fantastic literature as well as that nation's fascination with futuristic science and technology, and they provide illuminating glimpses of Chinese attitudes, values, and daily life. Like most Chinese science fiction writers, the authors represented in this volume are engaged in scientific research or the popularization of science. Their work reflects the critical dictum that scientific fiction must be scientifically factual or based on reasonable extrapolations of known fact. Among the themes treated in these stories are people's use of and relationship to robots and clones; peaceful versus military application of technology; futuristic detection and intelligence operations; space exploration and warfare; and personal heroism, patriotism, and responsibility. The stories typically incorporate an optimistic view of science's contribution to the future of humankind. Wu provides a comprehensive introduction to the history of Chinese science fiction together with a chronological bibliography of stories, novels, and related critical works. This collection offers a unique perspective on modern China and a welcome opportunity to explore the Chinese contribution to one of the most popular forms of contemporary fiction.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0275933431/?tag=2022091-20
( A groundbreaking contribution to the critical literatur...)
A groundbreaking contribution to the critical literature, this volume represents the most extensive study of the fantastic in poetry published to date. Designed to serve both as an introduction to and a historical overview of fantastic poetry in the Anglo-American tradition, the authors closely analyze specific periods and poems in order to illuminate more clearly the relationships among fantasty, the fantastic, science fiction, and poetry. The scope of the study is unusually broad and encompasses material from Spenser through the work of a wide range of contemporary American and British poets. Although the contributors focus primarily on English-language authors, their essays provide theoretical and practical criticism relevant to the study of the fantastic in poetry in any language. Among the innovative approaches developed are a feminist-fantastic revisionary reading of Keat's Lamia and a conceptualization of the role of fantasy in the writing of holocaust poetry. In addition, the contributors analyze such works as C.S. Lewis's Dymer, Ed Dorn's Slinger, Victorian women's fantasies, the poetry of Margaret Atwood, Anne Sexton, Ursula K. Le Guin, and many others. Taken together, these essays should not only spark critical debate on the intersection of fantasy and poetry but also become the essential starting point for any new criticism of fantastic poems.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0313261601/?tag=2022091-20
(Postmodern theory at its best-a call for an ecofeminist d...)
Postmodern theory at its best-a call for an ecofeminist dialogical method of reading literature and nature. The book first establishes a theoretical framework for conceptualizing environmental analysis. It then develops a conception of environmental literature with an emphasis on works by women, arguing for the need to reconceptualize woman/nature and nature/culture associations, and critiquing the problems of male poetic sex-typing of the planet. Murphy also elaborates on specific works and authors, with an emphasis on literary texts by Hampl, Harjo, Snyder, and Le Guin. Additionally, he treats issues of canon and pedagogy, as well as the possibility of agency in a postmodern era. Ranging across diverse fields and incorporating cultural studies, post-structuralist literary theory, and ecofeminist philosophy, Literature, Nature, and Other both defines and critiques the current terrains of literary ecocriticism and nature writing/environmental literature. Literary examples are drawn from fiction, poetry, and prose, including postmodern metanarratives and works by Native Americans and Chicanas.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/079142278X/?tag=2022091-20
(Chinese popular culture is extremely diverse and richly c...)
Chinese popular culture is extremely diverse and richly complex. The 18 chapters in this reference provide a current and comprehensive bibliographical and descriptive study of Chinese popular culture in English. The chapters, each devoted to a particular topic, are written by expert contributors who offer comprehensive surveys of research materials and discuss the most important points of critical interest. The opening chapters of the book discuss the complexity of the Chinese cultural tradition and the relationship between popular culture and Chinese civilisation. The chapters that follow are devoted to particular topics that reflect key elements of Chinese popular culture, such as tea drinking, literature and religion. The chapters generally discuss the history of the topic, review current research in the field, evaluate available reference sources and research collections, and present bibliographic information.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0313278083/?tag=2022091-20
Murphy, Patrick Dennis was born on October 19, 1951 in Joliet, Illinois, United States.
Bachelor in History, University of California at Los Angeles, 1973. Master of Arts in English, California State University, Northridge, 1983. Doctor of Philosophy in English, University California, Davis, 1986.
Teaching assistant English, Teachers English to Speakers Other Languages lecturer California State University, Northridge, 1982-1983. Teaching assistant, associate lecturer English University California, Davis, 1983-1987. Assistant professor English Indiana University Pennsylvania, 1987-1990, associate professor English, 1990-1994, professor English, since 1994, director graduate program in literature and criticism, 1991-1995.
( Staging the Impossible explores the most recent critica...)
( Despite periods of heavy censorship and political oppos...)
( A groundbreaking contribution to the critical literatur...)
( In the 1990s, the emerging field of ecocriticism―nature...)
(Postmodern theory at its best-a call for an ecofeminist d...)
(Chinese popular culture is extremely diverse and richly c...)
(Book by Murphy, Patrick, Murphy, Patrick D.)
(Book by Murphy, Patrick D.)
Member Modern Language Association, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, Association for the Study American Indian Lits., Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States, Western Literature Association.
Son of William Patrick Murphy and Evelyn Rae Spinozzi. M. Bonnie Iwasaki, June 5, 1982. 1 child, Mariko.