Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface xi
4. Part I Immediate Issues
5. One. By the Ocean of Time 1
6. Two. The Heavy as Opposed to... 27
7. Three. Moral Substance and Ambiguity 43
8. Four. Complexity vs. Fullness 58
9. Part II The Cooked and the Raw
10. Five. The Cooked and the Raw 71
11. Six. The Smart and the Dumb 84
12. Part III The Lost Poetics of Comedy
13. Seven. The Lost Poetics of Comedy 99
14. Part IV The Nature of Dramatic Action
15. Eight. The Weight of the Past 125
16. Nine. The Weight of the Wrong Decision 139
17. Ten. The Nature of the Hero’s Journey 154
18. Part V The Death and Life of Drama
19. Eleven. The Death and Life of Drama 189
20. Appendix: A Case Study 219
21. Notes 243
22. Film and Drama List 255