Straight Acting
Popular Gay Drama from Wilde to Rattigan
Sean O'Connor(Author)
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Published on 1. April 1998
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-304-32864-2 (ISBN)
Description
This text argues that, haunted by the ghost of Oscar Wilde as gay man, writer and self-invented artist, subsequent gay playwrights, working between Wilde and the dawn of gay liberationist theatre, were unable to rival his celebrated status as "gay playwright". It focuses on the work of Noel Coward, Terrence Rattigan and Somerset Maugham and considers how their repressed and marginalized situation as closeted homosexual writers affected their life and work. Bitter, cynical parodies of heterosexual marriage in crisis, farcical portrayals of the impossibility of monogamous attachment, and slapstick promotion of sexual experimentation feature prominently in the popular social comedies of these writers. This text assesses the role of "sublimation" and looks at how contemporary heterosexual audiences responded to them.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Illustrations
notes, bibliography,
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
Weight
410 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-304-32864-2 (9780304328642)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2016
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€133.99
Available for download
Persons
Content
Oscar and after; Somerset Maugham, warts and all; private lives, public faces; sentimental educationl; brief encounters; the devil and the deep blue sea.