
Selected Plays
Brice, the Paradise Circus, Where Quentin Goes, and Ruthanna Elder
James Purdy(Author)
Northwestern University Press
Book
Paperback/Softback
328 pages
978-0-8101-2373-1 (ISBN)
Description
Hailed as "a creative genius" ("TLS") and "a singular American visionary" ("New York Times"), James Purdy may be best known for his remarkable novels, but he is also an astonishing playwright who has written nine full-length and twenty short plays. Theater companies from Chicago to Antwerp, Belgium, have also dramatized four of his novels (including "Malcolm" and "I Am Elijah Thrush"). Purdy is one of the few contemporary American writers capable of writing tragedy - the great Tennessee Williams called him "a uniquely gifted man of the theater." This collection presents four riveting and beautifully crafted works: "Brice", "The Paradise Circus", "Where Quentin Goes", and "Ruthanna Elder". All of them explore a range of emotional and familial tangles, as fathers betray their sons and squander their inheritance; siblings compete for parental affection; and husbands and wives try to salvage meaning from their broken marriages.
Written in Purdy's authentic idiom, which Paul Bowles called "the closest [we have] to a classical American colloquial," the plays also tackle matters like American fundamentalism with such breathtaking observations, they overcame Williams with "a totally personal feeling of pain and desolation." "Selected Plays" includes a foreword from Michael Feingold, noted theater critic of the "Village Voice". It also reproduces Purdy's own artistic statement, several of his best drawings, and notes on reading and performing his plays.
Written in Purdy's authentic idiom, which Paul Bowles called "the closest [we have] to a classical American colloquial," the plays also tackle matters like American fundamentalism with such breathtaking observations, they overcame Williams with "a totally personal feeling of pain and desolation." "Selected Plays" includes a foreword from Michael Feingold, noted theater critic of the "Village Voice". It also reproduces Purdy's own artistic statement, several of his best drawings, and notes on reading and performing his plays.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Evanston
United States
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8101-2373-1 (9780810123731)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
A novelist, poet, playwright, and amateur artist, James Purdy (1923-) has published over fifty volumes, including Malcolm (Serpent's Tail, 1994); I am Elijah Thrush (Doubleday, 1972); Garments the Living Wear (City Lights, 1989); and Gertrude of Stony Island Avenue (William Morrow, 1997). Purdy is also the author of several collections of short stories, most recently Moe's Villa and Other Stories (Carroll & Graf, 2004), and many of his plays have been performed in theaters off-Broadway and by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Company. Purdy has been the recipient of Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Ford Foundation grants, and was awarded a Morten Dauwen Zabel Fiction award from the Academy of Arts and Letters (1993).