Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real?
Judged by the literary research conducted over the last decades of the previous and the first decade of this century, not only was drama an illegitimate offspring in the American literature but was also treated as a weak premature-born child in the postmodernist thought in general. A stage cohabitat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
2015-12-01
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| Series: | Acta Neophilologica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/ActaNeophilologica/article/view/5729 |
| _version_ | 1828061236931067904 |
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| author | Vesna Bratić |
| author_facet | Vesna Bratić |
| author_sort | Vesna Bratić |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Judged by the literary research conducted over the last decades of the previous and the first decade of this century, not only was drama an illegitimate offspring in the American literature but was also treated as a weak premature-born child in the postmodernist thought in general. A stage cohabitation of the postmodern experiment and a realist frame in the contemporary theatre is well illustrated by the two popular contemporary playwrights: Sam Shepard and David Mamet. By their creative opus, not only in the fields of drama and theatre, but also in other literary genres (poetry, essay) as well as in film, through a variety of different characters and situations, these two authors reveal a rich variety of the many possible variations of American social (con)text. The society will be read in their plays as a unique cultural text outside which, as Derrida said, there is nothing. America, its myths and contemporary cultural industry, its class, racial and gender conflicts and the two authors established a mutual set of influences. The playwrights borrow raw materials from the treasury of mass culture (or should it, to be true to the new consumer culture, be more appropriate to say a warehouse) break it down and re-assemble fragments into collages that articulate the contemporary issues in more condensed, more intense and more effective ways. Mamet and Shepard borrow from the contemporary culture only to pay it back with interest: they endow the cultural (con)text with a richer content, impregnated with meaning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T22:11:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba933f00ea57425a831ebb8eda5b75e6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0567-784X 2350-417X |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T22:11:19Z |
| publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Neophilologica |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba933f00ea57425a831ebb8eda5b75e62023-01-18T08:46:22ZdeuUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Acta Neophilologica0567-784X2350-417X2015-12-01481-210.4312/an.48.1-2.19-37Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real?Vesna BratićJudged by the literary research conducted over the last decades of the previous and the first decade of this century, not only was drama an illegitimate offspring in the American literature but was also treated as a weak premature-born child in the postmodernist thought in general. A stage cohabitation of the postmodern experiment and a realist frame in the contemporary theatre is well illustrated by the two popular contemporary playwrights: Sam Shepard and David Mamet. By their creative opus, not only in the fields of drama and theatre, but also in other literary genres (poetry, essay) as well as in film, through a variety of different characters and situations, these two authors reveal a rich variety of the many possible variations of American social (con)text. The society will be read in their plays as a unique cultural text outside which, as Derrida said, there is nothing. America, its myths and contemporary cultural industry, its class, racial and gender conflicts and the two authors established a mutual set of influences. The playwrights borrow raw materials from the treasury of mass culture (or should it, to be true to the new consumer culture, be more appropriate to say a warehouse) break it down and re-assemble fragments into collages that articulate the contemporary issues in more condensed, more intense and more effective ways. Mamet and Shepard borrow from the contemporary culture only to pay it back with interest: they endow the cultural (con)text with a richer content, impregnated with meaning.https://journals.uni-lj.si/ActaNeophilologica/article/view/5729American literature / American drama / PostmodernismAmericamass cultureconsumerism |
| spellingShingle | Vesna Bratić Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real? Acta Neophilologica American literature / American drama / Postmodernism America mass culture consumerism |
| title | Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real? |
| title_full | Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real? |
| title_fullStr | Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real? |
| title_short | Is there drama in contemporary America? : is there postmodernism in American drama?: Shepard vs. Mamet - whose America is (more) real? |
| title_sort | is there drama in contemporary america is there postmodernism in american drama shepard vs mamet whose america is more real |
| topic | American literature / American drama / Postmodernism America mass culture consumerism |
| url | https://journals.uni-lj.si/ActaNeophilologica/article/view/5729 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vesnabratic istheredramaincontemporaryamericaistherepostmodernisminamericandramashepardvsmametwhoseamericaismorereal |