The History of Southern DramaCharles Watson explores this field from its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century roots through the Southern Literary Renaissance and Tennessee Williams's triumphs to the plays of Horton Foote, winner of the 1994 Pulitzer Prize. Such well known modern figures as Lillian Hellman and DuBose Heyward earn fresh looks, as does Tennessee Williams's changing depiction of the South - from sensitive analysis to outraged indictment - in response to the Civil Rights movement. Two chapters devoted to drama by southern blacks begin with slave-born William Wells Brown, author of two plays as well as Clotelle, the first novel by an African American. Watson recognizes the trail-blazing plays of Zora Neale Hurston and closely examines the extensive output of Randolph Edmonds, author of forty-seven plays and a central force in encouraging black dramatic writing and production. |
Contents
Definitions and Preliminaries | 3 |
Nationalism and Native Culture in Virginia | 12 |
Prolific Playwriting in Charleston | 27 |
The Dramatist as Humorist in New Orleans | 50 |
Drama Goes to War | 66 |
The Modern Drama of Espy Williams | 87 |
The Leadership of Paul Green | 101 |
DuBose Heywards Transmutation of Black Culture | 122 |
Black Drama Politics or Culture | 142 |
Randolph Edmonds and Civil Rights | 158 |
The Cultural Imagination of Tennessee Williams | 172 |
Past and Present Cultures in Recent Drama | 188 |
Politics Culture and the Rise of Southern Drama | 208 |
Notes | 214 |
Bibliography | 239 |
Index | 251 |
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