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"A wonderfully helpful survey of the drama of Sam Shepard. It is bound to find many eager readers among those who are either intrigued or baffled--or both--by the plays of this still-young playwright whom many think contemporary America's finest." Choice ... Read more

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Drawing together 13 original theoretical perspectives on one of America's most important contemporary playwrights, this book represents a range of critical approaches - including semiotics, deconstruction and feminism. The essays address recent debates emerging in Shepard criticism. These include the status of Shepard's texts within the modernist tradition on the one hand and a developing post-modernism on the other, and the feminist debate over Shepard's drama - does it reinforce a masculinist world, or does it provide some oppositional stance toward patriarchal "master narratives"? ... Read more

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Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, actor, ex-cowboy, and musician Sam Shepard now stands revealed as a storyteller of dazzling artistry. Bleak and wildly funny, touching but stringently unsentimental, these stories give readers a most intimate view of the writer who has become synonymous with the recklessness, stoicism, and solitude of American manhood.


From the Trade Paperback edition. ... Read more

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A product of a computer-aided text analysis of "Buried Child", the methodology of this volume centres around the idea that one gains a greater understanding of the "whole" from a complete analysis of its parts. The computer performed a double breakdown of the script: first, the separate parts in full-line text; second, formatting the separate parts into individual concordances. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This play was a grotesque and brilliant!
I think this book was very interesting. The way Sam Shepard had the characters set up and there atitiudes about the whole situation was brilliant. I thik it was delightful ... Read more

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Throughout his career, Sam Shepard demonstrated a preoccupation with national identity, myths and symbols. "The Bodyguard" was a film adaptation of the Renaissance dramatists Middleton and Rowley's play "Changeling". The screen adaptation is presented here as a counterhegemonic appropriation of the canonical text through an assertion of Shepard's American identity and a vindication of his popular roots. The adaptation critically demonstrates the tension Shepard experiences between national idea(l)s and a multicultural reality in the plot, themes and imagery of the early modern play, and also exemplifies and thematizes the postmodern fusion of high and low culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Highly Insightful Commentary
Being a graduate theatre student, I've read almost all of Shepard's plays and a great deal of Shepard criticism, and consider this book to be among the most insightful. From the title, I expected anarrow examination ofcharacter and conflict. But, in fact, the book is much more than that.Italso charts--in precise structural and thematic terms--Shepard'smetamohposis from a purely instinctual (and "speed"-driven) youngplaywrightto an iconoclastic storytellerin firm control of his craft. This is a book for both those who have only recently discovered Shepard'swork and those (like myself) who thought that they had already cracked thecode.

Insightfully charts the evolution of an artist
All of the great American playwrights, I find Shepard to be the most elusive. Unlike many of his predecessors, Shepard doesn't connnect all the dots; his characters don't stay put, his plots are slippery, and even histhemes are sometimes difficult to pin down. Watching or reading a Shepardplay is like living on a fault line--you never know when the ground willgive way or where you'll finally end up. Which is why I so appreciated ABODY ACROSS THE MAP. It is cogent, well-written, and clarifies, withoutover-simplifying--some of the more mysterious aspects of Shepard'swork.Also, by examining the father-son conflict in plays written over a twentyyear span, it skillfully reveals how Shepard's view of the world, his ideasregarding masculinity, and his perceptions of women have substantiallychanged. I was particularly impressed by the author's analyses of THE TOOTHOF CRIME, TRUE WEST, and A LIE OF THE MIND. ... Read more

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A solitary man digs a hole in the ground, near a dead horse. Amidst the clutter of food and equipment stands Hobart Struther, who has ridden all the way out to the middle of nowhere on a holy mission. But one day into his “Great Sojourn,” things are looking bleak. His horse has choked to death, he's miles away from civilization, and there's not a person around to talk to – other than himself. As Hobart examines his rise — how he built a vast art collection while ensconced in a comfortable Park Avenue lifestyle — he digs deep into his own history, unearthing truths about his past while still struggling to find the answers he needs. With Shepard's linguistic flair, subtle humor, and probing insights, Kicking a Dead Horse is an invigorating addition to the works of one of America's most innovative playwrights. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Philosophical, not always successfully
I saw this play recently and i think it was not helped by a very declamatory actor in the lead.It is a one-person play that tries to wrestle with some big questions in an unusual way. It felt a little dry, but I applaud the effort and I'd like to see a production of it with an actor who could just honestly talk to an audience and show us his vulnerable side as he deals with feeling helpless, worthless and possible near the end of his life. ... Read more