Clifford Odets: A Research and Production Sourcebook

by William W. Demastes

Overview

Best known as a revolutionary playwright of the 1930s, Clifford Odets may have reached his zenith when four of his plays were produced on Broadway in 1935: Waiting for Lefty, Till the Day I Die, Awake and Sing!, and Paradise Lost. His plays, however, also show a romantic strain and are at least as much inimate and personal as they are political, often reflecting the isolation and loneliness of individuals in family settings. Never achieving the acclaim of Eugene O'Neill, who came before, or Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, who followed, Odets bridged the gap between earlier melodramatic theatre and the mature post-World War II drama on the American stage, creating rich and varied drama well into the 1950s. That his plays continue to be appraised and performed is clearly evident in this detailed and carefully articulated sourcebook.

A near-exhaustive resource for both literary and theatrical research materials on Odets's dramatic career, the volume is organized and indexed for quick reference. Included are a biographical essay; critical overview, production history, and plot summary of each dramatic product; annotated primary and secondary bibliographies and information on archival sources; and production credits. Essential for research libraries and theatre collections, the volume will be useful to theatre scholars and practitioners and to anyone interested in the work of this significant modern American playwright.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313262944
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/19/1991
Series:	Modern Dramatists Research and Production Sourcebooks , #1
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM W. DEMASTES is Associate Professor of English at Louisiana State University. Specializing in modern drama and American literature, he is the author of Beyond Naturalism (Greenwood 1988) and numerous articles in major drama and literary jourbanals. He is the originator of and adviser to Greenwood's series Modern Dramatists Research and Production Sourcebooks, of which Clifford Odets is the first publication.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chronology
Life and Career
The Plays: Summaries and Critical Overviews
The Stage Plays
Awake and Sing! (1935)
The Big Knife (1949)
Clash by Night (1941)
The Country Girl (1950)
The Cuban Play (1938)
The Flowering Peach (1954)
Golden Boy (1937)
Golden Boy, the Musical (1964)
Golden Gloves (1937)
I Can't Sleep (1935)
Jacobowsky and the Colonel (1943)
Night Music (1940)
910 Eden Street (1931)
Paradise Lost (1935)
Rocket to the Moon (1938)
The Russian People (1942)
The Silent Partner (1936)
Till the Day I Die (1935)
Victory (1932)
Waiting for Lefty (1935)
Winter Jourbaney (1952)
Radio Plays
At the Waterline (1926)
Sarah Bernhardt (1934)
The Show Must Go On (1939)
Primary Bibliography
Productions and Credits
Author Index
General Index

Editorial Reviews

Begins a reference series on figures in 20th-century American drama that will include exhaustive annotated bibliographies, biograpihcal overviews, play synopses and critical receptions, and production histories and credits. The first volume highlights Odets (1906-1963), who was influential during the 1930's in the shift from melodrama to modern realism. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews