Overview

A wonderfully helpful survey of the drama of Sam Shepard. It is bound to find many eager readers among those who are either intrigued or baffled--or both--by the plays of this still-young playwright whom many think contemporary America's finest. Choice America's most highly acclaimed contemporary playwright continues to puzzle critics, even as his reputation grows and his imagination seeks new creative channels. Finding the dramatist difficult to classify, critics and scholars continue to search for the central direction of Shepard's creative development. Lynda Hart's study, which focuses on ten representative plays, is the first book to examine Shepard's growth and development as a dramatist within and against the historical tradition. Offering a unified critical perspective, the author considers the plays from both a literary standpoint and as texts for performance. Resources include a bibliography that offers the most complete listing of relevant critical writings.

Full Product Details

9780313253737

Table of Contents

Reviews

?Lynda Hart's Sam Shepard's Metaphorical Stages is one of the series Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies being brought out by the Greenwood Press under the general editorship of Joseph Donohue. In this volume Hart sets herself the task of offering a 'unified vision' of Shepard's drama. On the face of it, this does not seem to be an easy task, as Shepard, in his career spread over more than two decades, has experimented with every known style and has eluded categorization. But by focusing on the metapohorical dimensions of the plays, Hart successfully traces the continuity between Shepard's early, fragmentary plays and the later full-length family dramas. . . This slim volume is a welcome addition to the body of criticism on Shepard's work for several reasons. Not cluttered with an examination of every play, it provides a clear focus. It also has two appendices, one providing a career chronology, and the other listing his published works and premiere productions. And finally it helps set the perspective right by drawing attention to a dramatic tradition outside the bounds of geography.?-Reviews - Texas A&M

Author Information

LYNDA HART is an Assistant Professor of English at Xavier University in Cincinnati where she teaches Modern and Contemporary Drama and Shakespeare.

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