This volume contains four of Pixérécourt's most important melodramas: The Ruins of Babylon or Jafar and Zaida, The Dog of Montatgis or The Forest of Bondy, Christopher Columbus or The Discovery of the New World, and Alice or The Scottish Gravediggers, as well as Charles Nodier's "Introduction" to the 1843 Collected Edition of Pixérécourt's plays and the two theoretical essays by the playwright, "Melodrama," and "Final Reflections on Melodrama."

"Pixérécourt furnished the Theatre of Marvels with its most stunning effects, and brought the classic situations of fairground comedy up-to-date. He determined the structure of a popular theatre which was to last through the 19th century... Pixérécourt determined that scenery, music, dance, lighting and the very movements of his actors should no longer be left to chance but made integral parts of his play. "

Hannah Winter, The Theatre of Marvels

Table of Contents

Read the Introduction

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