Masterpieces of 20th-Century American Drama

Susan C. W. Abbotson

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9780313332234
• eBook ISBN: 9780313027239
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism in Drama
• Index: Literature

American playwrights have made enormous contributions to world drama during the last century, and their works are widely read and performed. This reference conveniently introduces 10 of the most important modern American plays read by students. An introductory essay concisely overviews modern American drama, and each of the chapters that follow examines a particular play. Among the plays discussed are Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, and August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. Each chapter includes a biography, a plot summary, an analysis of the play's themes, characters, and dramatic art, and a review of its historical background and reception. Chapters list works for further reading, and the volume closes with a selected, general bibliography.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Thornton Wilder, Our Town (1938)
• 2 Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
• 3 Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)
• 4 Arthur Miller, The Crucible (1953)
• 5 Eugene O’Neill, Long Day's Journey into Night (1956)
• 6 Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959)
• 7 Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962)
• 8 Sam Shepard, Buried Child (1978)
• 9 David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross (1984)
• 10 August Wilson, The Piano Lesson (1987)
• Bibliography
• Index