Clifford Odets and American Political Theatre

Book flyer
MS Word
International
MS Word

(Click to Enlarge)

Christopher J. Herr

Book Code: GM1594

ISBN: 0-313-31594-9

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-31594-7

DOI:

200 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 10/30/2003

List Price: $62.95 (UK Sterling Price: £34.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies

Series Number: 103

Reviews:

None of the studies of Clifford Odets since the early 1960s delves into the political content and context of his plays more thoroughly and powerfully than this one does. Herr expands on points suggested by Casper Nannes in his pioneering Politics in the American Drama (1960). And Herr demonstrates how the Depression gave Odets a cause and how his close affiliation with the Group Theatre gave him a surrogate family....The book is well documented and includes an excellent chronological table, extensive bibliography, and comprehensive index. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
—Choice April 2004
In reevaluating Odet's legacy as a political playwright, Herr refracts the plays' formal elements through the economic, social, and political contexts of the time, such as the financial situation of theater and film from the 1930s through the 1950s. Studying how "economics matter" in the plays' content and context reveals Odet's preoccupation in hios life and work with the irony that American markets and materialism endanger the possibilities secured by American prosperity and democracy.
—American Literature March 1 2005

Description: Clifford Odets, one of the 20th century's leading American playwrights, was a fervent believer in democracy and the human ability to overcome obstacles. Yet his legacy has been overshadowed by persistent attempts to read him as a thoroughly political playwright. This new consideration reads his career--the work itself and the conditions of its invention--as cultural creations in a time of political, social, and economic change.
Spanning two World Wars, the Depression, and the Cold War, the works of Clifford Odets illuminate a period of tremendous change in American life and theatre. Herr adroitly examines Odets's plays and screenplays against the backdrop of the artistic and economic pressures placed upon him by the Group Theatre, Broadway, Hollywood, and the 1952 HUAC hearings in which he testified. He avers that Odets's experience as a writer in the film and theatre industries is reflected in expressions of economic struggle in his plays. While a "culture of abundance" in the face of economic catastrophe shaped the structure and content of his early works, political pressures, especially during the Cold War, shaped his later career. This book illustrates the deeply utopian nature of Odets's vision, which existed alongside a continuing ambivalence toward consumer culture as a means of political and social change. Herr's fresh new look at Odets's works and contributions to the American stage invites readers to reconsider accepted notions about the playwright's importance.

Table of Contents:

Series Foreword
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
Odets and America, 1906-1929
Art and Politics in the Marketplace: Odets, the Group, and America, 1929-1940
"Life Printed on Dollar Bills": The Marketplace in Odets' Group Plays
Odets and the Dwindling Political Theatre, 1940-1954
"A Real Artist of the People": Odets' Post-Group Plays
"The Enemy with a Capital 'E'": Odets' Final Years
Chronology
Selected Bibliography
Index

LC Card Number: 2003046329

LCC Class: PS3529

Dewey Class: 812


All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2008 Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881, (203) 226-3571