1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910735593203321

Autore

Vorlicky Robert <1950->

Titolo

Act Like A Man : Challenging Masculinities in American Drama / / Robert Vorlicky

Pubbl/distr/stampa

2023

Ann Arbor : , : University of Michigan Press, , 1995

©1995

ISBN

0-472-90420-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations

Classificazione

LIT000000PER000000SOC028000

Disciplina

812/.5409353

Soggetti

Rôle selon le sexe - Dans la litterature

Masculinité - Dans la litterature

Männlichkeit

Drama

Sex role in literature

Men in literature

Masculinity in literature

Male dramatists

Gender identity in literature

American drama

American drama - 20th century - History and criticism

Critiques litteraires.

Literary criticism

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

USA

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

; Introduction. Gender, structure, and dialogue -- ; 1. The American masculine ethos, male mythologies, and absent women -- ; 2. Silence, violence, and the drama of abuse -- ; 3. Liberation in confinement -- ; 4. Realizing freedom : risk, responsibility, and individualization -- ; Epilogue. Beyond power plays : men, sexism, feminism, and



representation.

Sommario/riassunto

"In the first comprehensive study of plays written for male characters only, Robert Vorlicky offers a new theory that links cultural codes governing gender and the conventions determining dramatic form. Act Like a Man looks at a range of plays, including those by O'Neill, Albee, Mamet, Baraka, and Rabe as well as new works by Philip Kan Gotanda, Alonzo Lamont, and Robin Swados, to examine how dialogue within these works reflects the social codes of male behavior and inhibits individualization among men. Plays in which women are absent are often characterized by the location of a male "other"--A female presence who distances himself from the dominant, impersonal masculine ethos and thereby becomes a facilitator of personal communication. The potential authority of this figure is so powerful that its presence becomes the primary determinant of the quality of men's interaction and of the range of male subjectivities possible. This formulation becomes the basis of an alternative theory of American dramatic construction, one that challenges traditional dramaturgical notions of realism"--Publisher's description