British Broadcasting Corporation Home. Here's what Miller himself said about the dramatic [ dramatic: To do with a drama or play. A description or portrayal that is vivid and immediate - as if it is being acted out in front of you. Something that is tense or exciting. Meaning that we would be confronted with a situation and we would be told in effect what the ending was. The question was not what was going to happen, but how it was going to happen. Each of the following aspects of the play contribute importantly to the build up of dramatic tension as we wait to see how the tragedy [ tragedy: A type of drama in which characters undergo suffering or calamity and which usually ends with a death.
A sad or catastrophic event causing suffering or death. Like a Greek drama - where the action all takes place in a single location - most of the action of this play takes place in the Carbones' apartment or immediately outside it.
The highlight of the novel, outside of the boyish glee of a man bagging busty women with so little effort that what effort he does expend is mostly to keep them at bay, is the dry caricature of con culture. The vendor who claims absolute authenticity until his wares are questioned.
The numerous large girls and boys dressed in what is meant to be slim clothing. The hashing out of tired anecdotes to the same fans who have heard them several years in a row. The people who come to cons just to sit in dark rooms and watch the shows they could have watched at homes. The fans who think they could have done their favorite show tons better. The squabbles over people who find they are wearing matching outfits. The "Expert" and "Fan" panels being made up the same four people.
The fact that the fans no more about the series than the people who worked on it, because the fans have been dissecting it for years while the others have moved on to other things like conventions. All in all a good start to the series. Light reading, witty and smart in a way similar to Wodehouse though a completely different theater of manners is under scrutiny , and with only a few kinks in the armor along the way. Recommended to all those Blake 7 geeks who wonder why they never had a murder mystery written for them. Feb 28, Wendy rated it liked it Shelves: I had really high hopes for this book, because Nev Fountain has written one of the most brilliantly funny things I've ever heard the Big Finish audio, The Kingmaker.
When I saw it on a dealer's table at the recent Gallifrey One convention, I snapped it up and started reading it immediately, hoping that it would be brilliant enough that I'd feel compelled to go straight back and buy the two sequels. With such high hopes, it might have been inevitable that I'd be a bit disappointed. Geek Tragedy I had really high hopes for this book, because Nev Fountain has written one of the most brilliantly funny things I've ever heard the Big Finish audio, The Kingmaker. Geek Tragedy isn't a bad book by any means, but it wasn't quite the comedy home run that I'd been hoping for.
Geek Tragedy features Mervyn Stone, the slightly washed up former script editor of the fictional 80s British sci-fi series Vixens from the Void. He's attending a convention, someone gets murdered, and Stone seems to be the only one who can put all the pieces together to figure out who the killer is. So, let's start with what works: Vixens from the Void is a pretty brilliant creation.
Fountain has perfectly captured the strange alchemy that happened so often on cult British sci-fi shows of that era: Diehard fans will recognize small details that Fountain stole from Doctor Who , or Blake's 7 or other shows, but Vixens At least once, I found myself thinking that I should look for a particular episode on Netflix, before I remembered that it's not a real show!
The idea that Mervyn Stone's experience as a script editor makes him a good detective because of his talent for weaving together seeming disparate plot threads and spotting holes in the narrative is a pretty cool idea, too. Stone spends so much of this book being a reluctant detective that his skills aren't shown off as much as I might like. There is a really terrific scene where Stone uses his mastery of plot logic to flummox the villain - I'd really like to see more of that in future books.
And there's some pretty effective satire of fans, the convention circuit, and the whole cult TV industry. If you go to these sorts of conventions, you will find yourself thinking, "Wow, I've been in that panel," or "Yeah, I know that actor. Well, for all the genuinely sharp and funny humor, there was also a lot that seemed tired.
The obligatory jokes about fans being socially inept, having poor hygiene, or being hugely fat just don't seem very funny, especially when Fountain gets much better laughs out of much more particular fannish foibles. And the amount of bile directed at female fans for daring to be fat and wear tight costumes and otherwise not be ashamed of their bodies seemed really disproportionate.
As I noted above, Stone is a rather reluctant detective. This is completely in character, because normal people don't react to murders in their vicinity by trying to solve them. However, I personally feel pretty strongly that if I'm reading a mystery, I want to read about a mystery being solved, and so I prefer it when the protagonist gets over his or her qualms quite sharpish and gets down to sleuthing. This is a personal peeve of mine.
There's a lot of sub-plot space devoted to Stone's sexual adventures with convention guests and staff. That, plus the mockery of fat women, does tend to create the impression that Stone divides women into two classes: Some of the female characters are actually pretty awesome, and I'm not going to make the error of attributing the Stone's attitude to the author. But it doesn't make Stone particularly endearing. So, okay, I didn't run straight out to buy the sequels to this book. I do plan to read them eventually, though I'll probably wait for the paperbacks.
If you're a fan of cult British sci-fi and of mysteries, this book is worth a look. It is not the best thing Nev Fountain has ever written, but it's still quite entertaining. Funny stuff, and more revelatory about Fan Conventions than you could imagine. While no one real person is specifically spoofed in the story, it's possible to recognize everyone and oneself during the action. That said, no one is laughed at, as its take on the situation is far more celebratory than one of a mocking tone.
Very humorous, full of surprises, and a fair smattering of smut. Mar 15, Rachel Redhead rated it liked it. Apr 17, Adam Stone rated it really liked it Shelves: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Yes it was rather silly at time and yes it did take the piss out of sci-fi fans and conventions but it was all done in a very loving way and sometimes I have been to conventions a bit like the one depicted in this book, but with less murders!!! The most acclaimed Greek tragedians are Aeschylus , Sophocles and Euripides. The origin of the word tragedy has been a matter of discussion from ancient times.
The primary source of knowledge on the question is the Poetics of Aristotle. Aristotle was able to gather first-hand documentation from theater performance in Attica , which is inaccessible to scholars today. His work is therefore invaluable for the study of ancient tragedy, even if his testimony is open to doubt on some points. According to Aristotle, tragedy evolved from the satyr dithyramb , an Ancient Greek hymn , which was sung along with dancing in honor of Dionysus.
Others suggest that the term came into being when the legendary Thespis the root for the English word thespian competed in the first tragic competition for the prize of a goat hence tragedy. There are other suggested etymologies for the word tragedy.
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The Oxford English Dictionary adds to the standard reference to "goat song", that:. Other hypotheses have included an etymology that would define the tragedy as an ode to beer. Jane Ellen Harrison pointed out that Dionysus, god of wine a drink of the wealthy classes was actually preceded by Dionysus, god of beer a drink of the working classes. Athenian beer was obtained from the fermentation of barley, which is tragos in Greek.
Thus, it is likely that the term was originally meant to be "odes to spelt ," and later on, it was extended to other meanings of the same name. The origin of Greek tragedy is one of the unsolved problems of classical scholarship. Ruth Scodel notes that, due to lack of evidence and doubtful reliability of sources, we know nearly nothing about tragedy's origin. Winnington-Ingram points out that we can easily trace various influences from other genres. How these have come to be associated with one another remains a mystery however.
First, somebody created a new kind of performance by combining a speaker with a chorus and putting both speaker and chorus in disguise as characters in a story from legend or history. Second, this performance was made part of the City Dionysia at Athens. Third, regulations defined how it was to be managed and paid for. It is theoretically possible that all these were simultaneous, but it is not likely.
Aristotle writes in the Poetics that, in the beginning, tragedy was an improvisation "by those who led off the dithyramb ", [8] which was a hymn in honor of Dionysus. This was brief and burlesque in tone because it contained elements of the Satyr play. Gradually, the language became more serious and the meter changed from trochaic tetrameter to the more prosaic iambic trimeter.
In Herodotus Histories [9] and later sources, [10] the lyric poet Arion of Methymna is said to be the inventor of the dithyramb. The dithyramb was originally improvised, but later written down before performance. The Greek chorus of up to 50 men and boys danced and sang in a circle, probably accompanied by an aulos , relating to some event in the life of Dionysus. Scholars have made a number of suggestions about the way the dithyramb changed into tragedy.
As tragedy developed, the actors began to interact more with each other, and the role of the chorus became smaller. He answers the questions of the chorus and so evokes their songs.
"A Greek tragedy"
He answers with a long speech about his own situation or, when he enters as messenger, with a narrative of disastrous events Naturally, the transformation of the leader into an actor entailed a dramatization of the chorus. Tradition attributes Thespis as the first person to represent a character in a play. This took place in BC during the Dionysia established by Peisistratus.
Other playwrights of the time were Choerilus , author of probably one hundred and sixty tragedies with thirteen victories , and Pratinas of Phlius , author of fifty works, of which thirty-two are satyr plays. At this time, satyr plays were presented alongside tragedies.
- Geek tragedy.
- Thyrus Ultima.
- Jewelry Jinx.
- Reunion at Cottonwood Station.
Pratinas definitely competed with Aeschylus and worked from BC. Another playwright was Phrynichus. Besides introducing dialogues in iambic trimeter and including female characters for the first time, Phrynichus also introduced historical content to the genre of tragedy e. His first victory in a contest was in BC. At this time, the organization of plays into trilogies began. Aeschylus was to establish the basic rules of tragic drama.
1. The Mervyn Stone Mysteries: Geek Tragedy (Paperback) - Mervyn Stone - Books - Big Finish
Trilogies were performed in sequence over a full day, sunrise to sunset. At the end of the last play, a satyr play was staged to revive the spirits of the public, possibly depressed by the events of the tragedy. In the work of Aeschylus, comparing the first tragedies with those of subsequent years, there is an evolution and enrichment of the proper elements of tragic drama: Aeschylus was at least partially receptive to Sophocles' innovations, but remained faithful to a very strict morality and a very intense religiosity. So, for instance, in Aeschylus, Zeus always has the role of ethical thinking and action.