Books : Sam Shepard : Seven Plays (Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, True West)
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 812.54
EAN num: 9780553346114
ISBN number: 0553346113
Label: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Manufacturer: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: May 01, 1984
Publishing house: Dial Press Trade Paperback
Release Date: May 01, 1984
Sale Popularity Level: 57320
Studio: Dial Press Trade Paperback
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Product Description:
Brilliant, prolific, uniquely American, Pulitzer prizewinning playwright Sam Separd is a major voice in contemporary theatre. And here are seven of his very best.
'One of the most original, prolific and gifted dramatists at work today.'—The New Yorker
'The greatest American playwright of his generation...the most inventive in language and revolutionary in craft, [he] is the writer whose work most accurately maps the interior and exterior landscapes of his society.'—New York Magazine
'If plays were put in time capsules, future generations would get a sharp-toothed profile of life in the U.S. in the past decade and a half from the works of Sam Shepard.'—Time
'Sam Shepard is the most exciting presence in the movie world and one of the most gifted writers ever to work on the American stage.'—Marsha Norman, Pulitzer prizewinning author of ‘Night, Mother.
'One of our best and most challenging playwrights...his plays are a form of exorcism: magical, sometimes surreal rituals that grapple with the demonic forces in the American landscape.'—Newsweek
'His plays are stunning in thier originality, defiant and inscrutable.'—Esquire
'Sam Shepard is phenomenal..the best practicing American playwright.'—The New Republic
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Rated by buyers -
I bought this book for a play reading group. I read a number of the plays, and ended up choosing "Curse of the Starving Class," which has some fascinating and memorable characters. It is a difficult play, but the group liked it. Sam Shepard is a great playwright.
Rated by buyers -
American playwrights aren't good at creating a career of playwriting. Why, I can't say. They write dynamically for a given period and then off they go into putting the holy bible on stage or some such epic. They become mystics, like Allen Ginsberg. Shepard wrote plays for a while and then, I think, Hollywood put the zap on him and he was gone. His occasional pieces yesterday are weak imitations of his former self. Money and fame may be responsible. Who knows? Here gathered in a single anthology are the key works, on which his life's reputation rests. "True West" sets the stage: we have real dramatic conflict, exciting dialog (of the sort last heard in Albee's "Zoo Story"), and high theatricality. The rest of the anthology is well worth reading, but for my money Shepard wrote a fine short play but his long and longer pieces are less interesting. Shepard has said in interviews that he sees plays as an outlet for ideas. The problem as I see it is that he has none.
Rated by buyers -
I like to call this collection Best of Shepard Vol. 1. This collection belongs in any actors collection. Sam Shepard is a true, unique American voice. His eccentric characters, sparse writing and classic plays. I've seen "Buried Child" on-Broadway and scenes from "Buried Child", "Curse of the Starving Class", "Savage Love" and "True West" in countless acting classes. One of America's greatest writers.
Rated by buyers -
This collection of plays is extraordinary. Shepard threads tales of cartoonlike characters bound by the direst of circumstances excellently.
Rated by buyers -
11th grade English Essay
Phillips Academy, Andover
"True West"
The play is about the struggle between modern society and more traditional ways of life. Lee and Austin represent two disconnected brothers with drastically different upbringings who have come to accept different norms. Against the growth of the city and the suburb, their spirit of the Wild West, though diminished, still exists. They steal and fight just like cowboys and highway robbers. Yet, both Lee and Austin are scared and frustrated. Lee doesn't know if he should try to blend into the new ways, and Austin doesn't know if he should go back to the old ways. And this play about two writers writing about the West is in itself a Western story. It has all the excitement and violence of a rider's life.
Who else would steal a dozen toasters and TVs? Austin and Lee were lawless and wild, daring enough to do anything. Austin's car is like a horse, and driving out is like going for a raid. "Lee enters abruptly into kitchen carrying a stolen TV set." The sentence has such an air of ease as if Lee entered with a Shopping bag. Stealing is no more than a normal part of Lee's life. He lives off of it, like those high-way riders who plunder by-passers in the old days. The wholesale raid of the toasters shows the wilder side of Austin." It was toasters you challenged me to. Only toasters. I ignored other temptation." He says to Lee after the thievery. These words make Austin sound like a warrior who has just beaten his rival in some major battle. The only irony is that the major battle was about stealing a dozen toasters. Austin is bragging about his lawlessness, and that is a very cowboy thing to do. Not only are these brothers such "professional" thief, they also are more than violent. From Lee "ax-chops(ing) at the typewriter using a nine-iron" to Austin trying to choke his brother with a telephone cord while their mom is standing on the side. It is hard to get worse than that. It is like a misplaced scene from a Old Western movie. Not only do these pair of thief like to kill each other, they also have that independence and individualism that Western heroic images render so forcefully. On top of living on the desert by himself, Lee also says "I don't sleep." , and does not seem to eat breakfast. "Do you Eat Breakfast?" "Look, don't worry about me pal. I can take care of myself." When Austin asks him if he needs any help with money, "Lee suddenly lungs at Austin, grabs him violently by the shirt and shakes him with tremendous power." Lee wants money, but he is going to get it by himself, not through his little brother. Lawless, violent, and independent, Lee and Austin are depicted in the play as the "True Western Heroes" borne at a wrong time. This, however, is only the very first layer of the play. It makes the story entertaining, but not meaningful.
"Yappin' their fool heads off. They don't yap like that on the desert. They howl. These are city coyotes here." The deeper meaning of the play is about the difference between the city "coyotes" and the country "coyotes". The country "coyote", Lee, is older, lives on a desert, use to catch snakes, and uneducated. The city "coyote", Austin, is younger, writes screen plays, does not remember having ever caught snakes, and has an Ivy League education. The brothers grew up together, but went onto totally different paths of life. But they don't merely represent two disgruntled brothers, but the struggle between the different ways of life. In Austin's eyes, the place where they used to live is "built up", but in Lee's eyes, the place has been "wiped out". But the struggle is not that simple. At the same time of feeling deep nostalgia, and refusing to adapt to the new way with help from his brother, because "it is too cold up there." , Lee also says the new houses that he saw were "like a paradise" with "Blonde people movin' in and outa' the rooms." Lee is deeply rooted in the old way of life and very unprepared socially and mentally for anything other than roaming around and stealing things. He likes comfort like anyone else, but the life of those living in those houses is like "paradise". They are far and aloft, and are not in his reach. Lee wants to write something to change his life, and Austin tells him that he can really turn things around and buy a ranch. Lee's excitement was obvious, " (laughs) A ranch? I could get a ranch?" We can see that it is very clear that even when Lee tries to change, he is only trying to change back to the old ways. Austin at the end of the play suddenly made a deal with Lee asking his brother to bring him to the desert. This shows the conflict at the other end of spectrum. Austin has more money, and has a seemingly good life. But is he really happy? Is his frustration with life any less than Lee's? No. The society that he has so well adapted to is of little comfort to him. He tries for years to get a ... Read More
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