This study takes a different approach to the work of poet-playwright Clifford Odets. Rather than focusing on biographical and political factors surrounding his works, Cantor provides a close reading of 11 of Odets' plays as a whole, grounding his study within an analysis of themes common to each text. While granting emphasis to Odets' poetic style, Cantor gives due notice to Odets' achievements as both mythmaker and voice of the Jewish middle class. Included are reprints of 'Sum and Substance, ' an interview with the writer conducted by the late Herman Harvey, and a 1998 interview by Cantor with actress/director Joanne Woodward, who has directed recent revivals of four of Odets' plays. Cantor also gives an account of other noted productions in order to illuminate the ways in which this visionary's style has influenced contemporary American theatre. Drawing both from previous works and his own research, Cantor presents a quintessential study of a prolific and influential literary artist. It will prove a useful and timely volume for scholars of theatre and American social history alike.

This book reconsiders realism on the American stage by addressing the great variety and richness of the plays that form the American theatre canon.

An introduction to American drama, aimed at students, academics and serious readers, which is also concerned that the unfamiliar names and forgotten voices of those who made a major contribution to its history, have been unfairly neglected.

A sizable gathering of early reviews and a broad selection of modern scholarship are collected along with three original essays commissioned for this volume and a substantial introduction by the editor. The collection brings to the fore the estimable contributions of an important American playwright whose work found great popular reception in the thirties. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Features a comprehensive guide to American dramatic literature, from its origins in the early days of the nation to the groundbreaking works of today's best writers.

Collection of hitherto unpublished critical essays on American fiction, poetry, and drama of the 1930's.

Now available in paperback for the first time, Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century is both a comprehensive reference resource and a springboard for further study. This volume: examines canonical Jewish writers, less well-known authors of Yiddish and Hebrew, and emerging Israeli writers includes entries on figures as diverse as Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Tristan Tzara, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Arthur Miller, Saul Bellow, Nadine Gordimer, and Woody Allen contains introductory essays on Jewish-American writing, Holocaust literature and memoirs, Yiddish writing, and Anglo-Jewish literature provides a chronology of twentieth-century Jewish writers. Compiled by expert contributors, this book contains over 330 entries on individual authors, each consisting of a biography, a list of selected publications, a scholarly essay on their work and suggestions for further reading.

Body and Soul explores the work of Robert Aldrich, a producer and director responsible for several notable films, including The Flight of the Phoenix, The Dirty Dozen, Too Late the Hero, The Longest Yard and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Author Tony Williams examines the relationship of Aldrich's films to the Cultural Front movement of the 1930s as well as to the blacklist of the 1950s. He also delineates Aldrich's attempts to follow the progressive ideals of such mentors as Jean Renoir, Lewis Milestone, and Charlie Chaplin. From the noir classic Kiss Me Deadly to the controversial thriller Twilight's Last Gleaming, Body and Soul focuses on the dilemmas--both personal and political--that affect individuals in all of Aldrich's films.