The Development of the Drama

James Brander Matthews (1852 – 1929) was an American writer and educator. He was the first full-time professor of dramatic literature at an Columbia university and played a significant role in establishing theatre as a subject worthy of formal study in the academic world. His interests ranged from Shakespeare, Molière, and Ibsen to French boulevard comedies, folk theatre, and the new realism of his own day. The Development Of The Drama tells the interesting story of the slow evolution of the drama, from its rude beginnings far back in the forgotten past to the pictoral complexity present at the time of publishing. This early work by Matthews was originally published in 1903 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography.