The Glorious Review
Dec. 20th, 2007 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
So one of the great loves in my life is Commedia dell'arte, the Italian improv comedy shows from the 15th - 18th Centuries. It was basically the sitcom of its time. Stock characters in formulaic plots with only the improvisation to string the elements together and keep things fresh and interesting.
So I really love books involving Commedia. If there was a book that involved a Commedia troupe that traveled by zeppelin, it'd be the greatest book ever. Probably the best Commedia book I've ever read is Carnival of Saints by George Herman.
Which means that The Glorious Ones by Francine Prose is not the greatest Commedia book I've ever read. However, that's not to say that it isn't a good book. It is short though, less than 200 pages. It's broken up into chapters where each member of a Commedia troupe, The Glorious Ones, gets to describe their history and that of the troupe.
It was a fun, breezy read with washes of melancholy and sadness. Ephemeral like a dream.
later
Tom
So one of the great loves in my life is Commedia dell'arte, the Italian improv comedy shows from the 15th - 18th Centuries. It was basically the sitcom of its time. Stock characters in formulaic plots with only the improvisation to string the elements together and keep things fresh and interesting.
So I really love books involving Commedia. If there was a book that involved a Commedia troupe that traveled by zeppelin, it'd be the greatest book ever. Probably the best Commedia book I've ever read is Carnival of Saints by George Herman.
Which means that The Glorious Ones by Francine Prose is not the greatest Commedia book I've ever read. However, that's not to say that it isn't a good book. It is short though, less than 200 pages. It's broken up into chapters where each member of a Commedia troupe, The Glorious Ones, gets to describe their history and that of the troupe.
It was a fun, breezy read with washes of melancholy and sadness. Ephemeral like a dream.
later
Tom
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re: Commedia
Date: 2007-12-21 06:35 pm (UTC)