The puppet can entertain or terrify, evoke the innocence of childhood, or become a magical entity, able to negotiate with ghosts and gods. This book takes us on a meditative journey through the world of puppet theater, exploring the mysterious fascination of these unsettling objects.
The essays and reflections in this collection explore the seriousness of play and the mysteries of inanimate life - 'the unknown spaces, noises, dust, lost objects, and small animals that fill any house' - which have provoked many writers to take the side of these dead or non-human things.
"Speculative and articulate, Gross's book sees Shylock as a breakthrough for Shakespeare, an early realization of the Bard's power to create dramatic voices that speak for unconscious, even inhuman impulses - characters larger than the plays that contain them. Shylock is a figure who gains strength from those who hate him. He supplies a mask for Shakespeare's own need, rage, vulnerability, generosity, and ambition, as well as his anxious bond with his audience, even as he is a character ready to escape the author's control. In envisioning Shylock as Shakespeare's covert double, Gross probes the character's peculiar isolation, ambivalence, opacity, and dark humor