"This book is important-and portentous-for if it is true that tragedy is dead, we face a vital cultural loss. . . . The book is bound to start controversy. . . . The very passion and insight with which he writes about the tragedies that have moved him prove that the vision still lives and that words can still enlighten and reveal."-R.B. Sewall, New York Times Book Review
"A remarkable achievement. . . . The knowledge is marshalled here with the skill and authority of a great general, and from it a large strategic argument emerges with clarity and force. . . . A brilliantly thoughtful and eloquent book which deserves to be read with the greatest attention and respect."-Philip Toynbee, The Observer
"As brilliant, thorough, and concerned a contemplation of the nature of dramatic art as has appeared in many years."-Richard Gilman, Commonweal
"A rich and illuminating study, full of intelligence and sensibility."-Times Literary Supplement (London)
"His merits are shining and full of the capacity to give both delight and illumination. . . . His style is throughout vigorous, sensitive, and altogether worthy of its subject."-Harold Hobson, Christian Science Monitor
"Immensely useful and [a book] to be reckoned with by everyone working in this field."-Raymond Williams, The Guardian
