The American Stage and the Great Depression: A Cultural History of the Grotesque

by Mark Fearnow

Overview

The American Stage and the Great Depression: A Cultural History of the Grotesque proposes a correlation between the divided "mind" of America during the Depression and popular stage works of the era, which are interpreted as theatrical reflections of Depression culture's sense of being trapped between a discredited past and a nightmarish future. The author analyzes the 1930s as an era of the grotesque, in which the irreconcilable were forced into tense and dynamic coexistence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521033626
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Series:	Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama , #6
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.55(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Introduction: loving the grotesque; 1. The grotesque and the Great Depression; 2. The political analogy; or, 'tragicomedy' in an in-between age; 3. Misery burlesqued: the peculiar case of Tobacco Road; 4. Chaos and cruelty in the theatrical space: Horse Eats Hat, Hellzapoppin, and the pleasure of farce; Appendix: cast and staff information for principal productions; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...provides valuable insights into the popular culture (theatre and fiflm) of a period which has often been categorized too indiscriminately as the "red decade." American Studies

From the Publisher