We all know about the big two genres of written literature: prose and poetry, but do people know about drama?
Its literature but with lines of dialogue and other special things that make it easier to read.
Despite not being a fan of fiction literature, I always liked to read them at school because its easier to know what is going on.
In my country (Portugal) we have two authors that are famous thanks to the PNL (Portugal’s programme that defines what books should portuguese people read) that are Gil Vicente and Almeda Garrett.
Gil Vicente was alive during the 15th and 16th centuries and he is known for writing *Auto da Barca do Inferno* (A book about dead people going to hell and heaven) and *Farsa de Inês Pereira* which is about abusive relationships (in the 16th century!)
Almeida Garrett (who lived in the 19th century) is more modern and wrote another book named *Frei Luís de Sousa* which is about a woman who thinks her husband died so she marries another man, despite being more modern is a more boring story but with some interesting parts and a lot of plotwists and allegories (which made literature tests impossible)
The only non-portuguese drama writers I know are Shakespeare and a less known american book named *The crucible* (which is about the Salem witch trials).
What do you think about this kind of literature, is it better or worse?
by CRNXD38
2 Comments
Given the existence of Shakespeare, I’ll venture a guess that people are familiar with drama as literature. English language schools also tend to teach things like *Waiting for Godot* or *Death of a Salesman* or, as you mentioned, *The Crucible* which, by the way, is only “lesser known” compared to literally Shakespeare, it’s extremely famous. Ibsen, Moliere, and Tennessee Williams are also well-known playwrights people usually learn at school.
The only other ones I’ve read in English other that what you mentioned are Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest) and Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman). Both in school. I never read any plays now as an adult, mostly because I don’t like plays…
I don’t even go to theatre productions – stage acting weirds me out, and the ones that happen locally are always some tortured arthouse thing.
I have read more Oscar Wilde though for sure though. He is fun.