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World of the PlayConcerns the setting in which the action takes place. The setting includes: specific information about the environment, what has happened before the play begins, and the attitudes of characters toward the world of the play. |
When doing research on the world of the play, look for information about:
- Economic environment--class, wealth and poverty
- Political environment--the relationship of the characters to the form of government under which they live
- Social environment--the mores and social institutions under which the characters live
- Cultural environment--the arts, architecture, sports, fashion, popular culture
- Historical environment--events in history
Good starting points for information about the world of the play include:
- SIMON, the library's online catalog
of books and other materials
- Do a keyword search
using terms such as economic, political, or social,
and combine it with the time period and/or geographical location of the
play's setting
- Example for Chekhov's The Seagull: Soviet Union and social
- Do a keyword search
using terms such as economic, political, or social,
and combine it with the time period and/or geographical location of the
play's setting
- Databases used to access magazines, journals, newspapers, and books about the environment of the play:
- Reference Sources: Subject Encyclopedias
- Examples:
- Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century, used to explore the world of The Orphans' Home Cycle by Horton Foote
- Bateman Concise Encyclopedia of Australia, used to explore the world of Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
- Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa, used to explore the world of Cloud Nine by Caryl Churchill
- Examples:
- Reference Sources: Chronologies of Important Events
- Examples:
- Chronicle of the 20th Century / Reference D422 .C53
- Timetables of History / Reference D11 .G78
- Historical Tables, 58 BC-AD 1985 / Reference D11 .S83
- Examples:
- Social Histories
- Do a subject heading search
in SIMON using the following terms:
- [country]--social conditions
- [country]--social life and customs
- In SIMON, do a title search using the word daily life
- Do a subject heading search
in SIMON using the following terms:
