Clifford Odets and American Political Theatre

(Hardback)

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Clifford Odets, one of the 20th century's leading American playwrights, was a fervent believer in democracy and the human ability to overcome obstacles. Yet his legacy has been overshadowed by persistent attempts to read him as a thoroughly political playwright. This new consideration reads his careerthe work itself and the conditions of its inventionas cultural creations in a time of political, social, and economic change. Spanning two World Wars, the Depression, and the Cold War, the works of Clifford Odets illuminate a period of tremendous change in American life and theatre. Herr adroitly examines Odets's plays and screenplays against the backdrop of the artistic and economic pressures placed upon him by the Group Theatre, Broadway, Hollywood, and the 1952 HUAC hearings in which he testified. He avers that Odets's experience as a writer in the film and theatre industries is reflected in expressions of economic struggle in his plays. While a culture of abundance in the face of economic catastrophe shaped the structure and content of his early works, political pressures, especially during the Cold War, shaped his later career. This book illustrates the deeply utopian nature of Odets's vision, which existed alongside a continuing ambivalence toward consumer culture as a means of political and social change. Herr's fresh new look at Odets's works and contributions to the American stage invites readers to reconsider accepted notions about the playwright's importance.

Reviews

In reevaluating Odet's legacy as a political playwright, Herr refracts the plays' formal elements through the economic, social, and political contexts of the time, such as the financial situation of theater and film from the 1930s through the 1950s. Studying how "economics matter" in the plays' content and context reveals Odet's preoccupation in hios life and work with the irony that American markets and materialism endanger the possibilities secured by American prosperity and democracy.-American Literature
None of the studies of Clifford Odets since the early 1960s delves into the political content and context of his plays more thoroughly and powerfully than this one does. Herr expands on points suggested by Casper Nannes in his pioneering Politics in the American Drama (1960). And Herr demonstrates how the Depression gave Odets a cause and how his close affiliation with the Group Theatre gave him a surrogate family....The book is well documented and includes an excellent chronological table, extensive bibliography, and comprehensive index. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.-Choice
"In reevaluating Odet's legacy as a political playwright, Herr refracts the plays' formal elements through the economic, social, and political contexts of the time, such as the financial situation of theater and film from the 1930s through the 1950s. Studying how "economics matter" in the plays' content and context reveals Odet's preoccupation in hios life and work with the irony that American markets and materialism endanger the possibilities secured by American prosperity and democracy."-American Literature
"None of the studies of Clifford Odets since the early 1960s delves into the political content and context of his plays more thoroughly and powerfully than this one does. Herr expands on points suggested by Casper Nannes in his pioneering Politics in the American Drama (1960). And Herr demonstrates how the Depression gave Odets a cause and how his close affiliation with the Group Theatre gave him a surrogate family....The book is well documented and includes an excellent chronological table, extensive bibliography, and comprehensive index. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above."-Choice

Author Bio

CHRISTOPHER J. HERR is Assistant Professor at California State University, Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the North Coast Theatre in Toledo, Ohio. In addition to publishing or presenting papers on political theatre, he has also acted and directed for the stage.