A Study Guide for Sam Shepard's "Buried Child," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.

A Study Guide for Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.

A Study Guide for Sam Shepard's "True West," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.

A Study Guide for Sam Shepard's "Curse of the Starving Class," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.

Contains the script for the 1977 play "Buried Child" in which a family is haunted by the knowledge that their grandfather killed and buried his wife's illegitimate child years earlier.

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2011 in the subject Philosophy - Theoretical (Realisation, Science, Logic, Language), grade: none, , language: English, abstract: After the World Wars, a sense of skepticism and indeterminacy towards the objective reality and truth, thought to be attained by the heritage of modernity, became an obsession for the thinkers and philosophers questioning the nature of truth. The present study is an attempt to trace the notion of indeterminacy in the plays of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author and It Is So! and Sam Shepard's True West and Buried Child from the point of view of poststructuralist philosophers, namely Derrida, Paul de Man, Nietzsche and theories of modern Physics (Einstein's relativity and quantum physics). To achieve this purpose, a thorough investigation of the plays through the lens of indeterminacy has been conducted. The first focus is Derrida's two notions, Differance and binary oppositions. Differance reflects on the deferment of meaning; and his idea of binary oppositions concentrates on the fact that of the two sides of oppositions neither side has privilege over the other side since a part of meaning exists in the opposite one and they get their meaning from each other. Furthermore, de Man's rhetoric, pointing to the figurative nature of language, which causes the meaning to delay; Nietzsche's view of truth, having a mobile stance; and the theories of modern physics, with regard to Einstein's relativity and indeterminacy extant in quantum mechanics, have been approached. Through the application of these ideas, it is proved that neither Pirandello's nor Shepard's have fixed meanings; rather, they always grant floating meanings that never reach a definite signified. Characters of the plays have an indeterminate natures changing from one type of personality to another one. Moreover, it is seen that how the concept of relativity is working through the play causing different characters to have the same view of the same event regarding reality and truth.

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Tubingen (Englisches Seminar), course: PS II Literary Studies: Family Scenes: The American Family on Stage, language: English, abstract: “This study holds that the coherence of the [American] nation owes much to the potency of its communal ‘stories’, those myths given prominence in cultural consciousness.” (Wade 3). According to Wade, the American culture is based on certain myths, on complex systems of attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic for a specific society or group (cf. Collins Dictionary 1077). The history of the nation and the experience of westward expansion resulted in certain myths that are still present in the American imagination (cf. Companion Drama 286). U.S. playwright Sam Shepard is known for his interest in national myths, which he defines as mysteries that speak to the emotions and feelings of people, and in the prominence of such myths in modern society (cf. Graham 112). Thus, Shepard sees his plays as tools for cultural conversation by which he questions American myths (cf. Companion Drama 291). One of Shepard ́s most popular plays is the family drama Buried Child, which unfolds the dark secret of a family living in a farm house in Midwestern Illinois (cf. BC ). This term paper will focus on two myths which are dominant in Buried Child: The myth of the generic middle-class family in the U.S. and the myth of the American Midwest. How does Sam Shepard reveal these myths in his family drama, and how does he demonstrate their hollowness? The first chapter will be based on the myth of the generic American family, on its definition, its appearance in the play, and on the question how this myth is criticized. The second chapter will focus on the myth of the American Midwest in the same line.

A product of a computer-aided text analysis of Buried Child, the methodology of this volume centres around the idea that one gains a greater understanding of the whole from a complete analysis of its parts. The computer performed a double breakdown of the script: first, the separate parts in full-line text; second, formatting the separate parts into individual concordances.

An outstanding research guide for undergraduate students of American literature, this best-selling book is essential when it comes to researching American authors. Bracken and Hinman identify and describe the best and most current sources, both in print and online, for nearly 300 American writers whose works are included in the most frequently used literary anthologies. Students will know exactly what information is available and where to find it.