In this engaging cross-disciplinary study; Timothy Murray examines the artistic struggle over traumatic fantasies of race; gender; sexuality; and power. Establishing a retrospective dialogue between past and present; stage and video; Drama Trauma links the impact of trauma on recent political projects in performance and video with the specters of difference haunting Shakespeares plays. The book provides close readings of cultural formations as diverse as Shakespearean drama; the Statue of Liberty; contemporary plays by women; African-American performance; and feminist interventions in video; performance and installation. The texts discussed include: * installations by Mary Kelly and Dawn Dedeaux; * plays by Ntozake Shange; Rochelle Owens; Adrienne Kennedy; Marsha Norman and Amiri Baraka * performances by Robbie McCauley; Jordan; Orlan; and Carmelita Tropicana * stage; film and video productions of King Lear; Othello; Romeo and Juliet and Alls Well that Ends Well.
#148262 in eBooks 2014-07-08 2014-07-08File Name: B00GEEB9XI
Review
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful. Much more than shtickBy Harry EagarReaders who know Damon Runyon only through his Broadway stories may think that he was a writer of shtick. Good shtick; but shtick. This Penguin collection shows that not to be the case.Right from the start; when he was under 30; Runyon could write a good running story; although he was nearly 50 before he began writing fiction regularly. He seems to have found his Broadway voice right off the bat when he began writing the Guys and Dolls stories in 1929. Although he ground out nearly a story a month for Colliers; the quality remained high. He never seems to have rushed or to have tossed one off.But as this collection shows; something dark happened to Runyons fiction as time went by. It is sometimes claimed that a thoughtful editors selection can change the way readers value a writer. This supposedly happened when the Viking Portable Faulkner rescued William Faulkner from relegation to a place as an oddball failure.It is not stated who made the selections in this 2008 collection; the latest of many; but presumably Professor Daniel Schwartz had a big hand in it. I cannot say I think much of his commentary; which sounds at times as if he didnt read the stories. At least; while I hear the Yiddish slang in the Broadway stories; I dont hear the Italian that Schwartz says is so prevalent. Some of his other comments seem equally off base.However; by arranging the Broadway stories in order of publication (for the practical reason that the characters recur and need to be properly introduced; he says); and by including very early stories; it becomes obvious that Runyons plots got more violent over time.Many; perhaps most of his stories were reworkings of news events -- the shootings of gamblers; kidnappings etc. But right from the start; Runyon softened real crimes. The 1907 "Defense of Strikerville;" presumably based on a particular event; though I cannot identify which one; turned militia assaults on helpless miners and their families with real bullets into a comic snowball fight. (The Ludlow Massacre would be the template; but it happened later.)The early Broadway stories; too; tended to rework real violence into comic horseplay. As in Shakespeare; there was plenty of murder in the background but almost always off stage. In the early stories; the right guy and the right doll usually ended up mated; and those were the stories that Hollywood liked; like "Madame La Gimp."Even the tearjerkers; which Hollywood liked even better; saw death come from disease; not the mouth of a John Roscoe; as in "Little Miss Marker." The apparent exception; "Dark Dolores;" proves this rule. The wronged doll resorts to trickery and natural forces; not guns; for her revenge.Later; the denouements turned more and more to gunplay; notably in the extremely bitter "Sense of Humor." I dont think Runyons view of life darkened so very much. The very last piece he wrote; a history of the Stork Club; was bright; and the essays he wrote about his own final illness were as realistic and tough as anything he ever wrote about Broadway; but also without self-pity -- or much of any other kind of pity.I suspect the gunplay and on-stage violence were a reaction to the movies. His Broadway stories even compare his real originals at times to the pretend tough guys like Robinson and Cagney. Stories on the printed page are capable of more subtlety than visual stories. That is why film "documentaries" always have to focus on vigorous action even when quiet negotiations were the real story; and that is why newspaper stories are inherently more balanced than televised accounts of the same event.But when the two collide; it is print that moves toward the graphic; trying to hold an audience; the graphic presentations never; ever veer toward subtlety and complexity. I think Runyons stories display that in an early stage of the debasement of public presentation.Runyon may have had to play to the taste of the times; but he never lost his edge. Just about the time he wrote "Sense of Humor;" he also wrote "The Lemon-drop Kid;" where disease; not gunplay; carries the plot; and nobody; not even Runyon; ever wrote a more bitter tale.From first to last; Runyon never wavered from the view; expressed by Sam the Gonoph in a late story ("A Nice Price;" his bloodiest): "All life is six to five against."2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Great ReadBy denny clevengerOne of the very few books I re-read. The short stories are some of Mr. Runyons best. What a bunch of colorful characters. YouTube "Damon Runyon Theater" and listen to the old radio show.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Classic Stories by a True American MasterBy J. BeamanGreat stories by one of the most unique and memorable voices in 20th century American literature. I bought the book to research for a production of "Guys and Dolls" and I learned so much about Runyons world and his idiom.