American Drama
The Bastard Art

A revisionist study of the cultural neglect of American drama.

Susan Harris Smith (Author)

9780521032421, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 November 2006

260 pages, 3 b/w illus. 1 map
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.398 kg

In this book, Susan Harris Smith looks at the many often conflicting cultural and academic reasons for the neglect and dismissal of American drama as a legitimate literary form. Covering a wide range of topics such as theatrical performance, the rise of nationalist feeling, the creation of academic disciplines, and the development of sociology, Smith's study is a contentious and revisionist historical inquiry into the troubled cultural and canonical status of American drama, both as a literary genre and as a mirror of American society.

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: the problem of American drama
2. Generic hegemony: the exclusion of American drama
3. No corner in her own house: what is American about American drama?
4. Did she jump or was she pushed? American drama in the university curriculum
5. Caught in the close embrace: sociology and realism
6. Conclusion: beyond hegemony and canonicity
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]