Description: The central subject of American drama is, arguably, the American family. From Royall Tyler's colonial comedy The Contrast (1787) to August Wilson's King Hedley II (2000), relationships between husbands, wives, and their children have been used consistently by American playwrights to explore and illuminate the American experience. This study of the family in twentieth-century American drama explores how filial relationships are affected by the capitalistic culture of consumption that permeates twentieth-century American society. By analyzing relationships within both traditional and nontraditional families, this book examines how family members in American plays perceive themselves and others as «things» in American twentieth-century capitalistic society.
Review Quotes: «Informed by contemporary theory, philosophy, and sociology, Thaddeus Wakefield examines how changes in American society and culture have impacted family life and how American playwrights have been drawn to the family as the subject of their more powerful works. In 'The Family in Twentieth-Century American Drama', Wakefield examines the full range of family dramas, including nontraditional families, written by the most important authors of the century, including O'Neill, Williams, Miller, Albee, Hellman, Hansberry, Crowley, and August Wilson. His original readings are exciting and rich in their implications for the future of the American family in the twenty-first century.» (Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside; General Editor, 'The Columbia Literary History of the United States')