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Genres

Drama

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The specific mode of fiction represented in performance, a play staged before an audience by actors on a theatre stage rather than narrated on the page. Western drama originates in classical Greece, where the theatrical culture of Athens formally staged competitions in three genres, tragedy, comedy and the satyr play, as part of the festivals honoring Dionysus. The dramatic mode has been distinguished from the epic and lyric modes since Aristotle's Poetics: a drama's words arise from the underlying structure of incident and character enacted before an audience, rather than standing as a composition in the verbal medium alone.

Facts
Notable Example
Aeschylus's The Persians (472 BCE), the oldest surviving drama, staged at the City Dionysia competition in Athens. 1
Defining Trait
Enacted in performance by actors before an audience rather than narrated on the page; Aristotle's Poetics distinguishes drama from the epic and lyric modes on exactly this ground. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Comedy, Genres

Comedy is one of classical Athenian drama's three formally competed genres; Drama is the broader category this atlas's genre vocabulary previously lacked (VocabularyRequest 94).

Source Drama (Wikipedia)
Tragedy, Genres

Tragedy is one of classical Athenian drama's three formally competed genres.

Source Drama (Wikipedia)
Tragicomedy, Genres

Tragicomedy blends tragedy and comedy, the two other classical dramatic subgenres, and is itself staged drama.

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Features Author

A Doll's House, Works
Source A Doll's House (Wikipedia)
Henrik Ibsen, Authors

Drama carried zero live author edges before this lane.

Source Wikipedia: Henrik Ibsen
Jean-Paul Sartre, Authors

Owed gap from board 3251 (w-depth-lit-genres2-0829/w-depth-lit-authors-0829): No Exit already in-genre Drama; this anchors the author himself.

Source Wikipedia: Jean-Paul Sartre
No Exit, Works
Source No Exit (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Drama (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)lead section
Quote, lead section
the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.
View the Source
1. Drama (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Notes section, on Aristotle's Poetics
Quote, Notes section, on Aristotle's Poetics
the dramatic mode has been contrasted with the epic and the lyrical modes ever since Aristotle's Poetics
View the Source
1. Drama (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Classical Greek drama section
Quote, Classical Greek drama section
Aeschylus' historical tragedy The Persians is the oldest surviving drama, although when it won first prize at the City Dionysia competition in 472 BC, he had been writing plays for more than 25 years.
View the Source
1. Drama (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Associated With: Comedy, Historical origins section
Quote, Associated With: Comedy, Historical origins section
The theatrical culture of the city-state of Athens produced three genres of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play.
View the Source
1. Drama (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Associated With: Tragedy, Historical origins section
Quote, Associated With: Tragedy, Historical origins section
The theatrical culture of the city-state of Athens produced three genres of drama: tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play.
View the Source
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Associated With: Tragicomedy, s.v. Tragicomedy, opening definition
Quote, Associated With: Tragicomedy, s.v. Tragicomedy, opening definition
wants deaths, which is enough to make it no tragedy, yet brings some neere it, which is enough to make it no comedie
View the Source
No Exit (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: No Exit, Lead section
Quote, Features Author: No Exit, Lead section
No Exit (French: Huis clos) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Henrik Ibsen
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Henrik Ibsen, Lead section (father of modern drama claim)
Quote, Features Author: Henrik Ibsen, Lead section (father of modern drama claim)
He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as the father of modern drama.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Jean-Paul Sartre
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Jean-Paul Sartre, Writing section
Quote, Features Author: Jean-Paul Sartre, Writing section
His plays are richly symbolic and serve as a means of conveying his philosophy.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Jean-Paul Sartre
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Jean-Paul Sartre, World War II section, first theatrical piece
Quote, Features Author: Jean-Paul Sartre, World War II section, first theatrical piece
he wrote his first theatrical piece, Bariona, ou le fils du tonnerre, a drama concerning Christmas
View the Source
A Doll's House (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationFeatures Author: A Doll's House, Lead section, play genre
Quote, Features Author: A Doll's House, Lead section, play genre
A Doll's House...is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.
View the Source
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