History plays / Charles L. Mee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mee, Charles L.

Series:

PAJ books

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Historical drama, American.

Physical Description:

329 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, Md. : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Summary:

Familiar to many readers for his insightful work as a historian, Charles Mee the playwright has sought not so much to explain historical events as to show the inattentiveness of those who make history. His Orestes, for example, offers a devastating portrait of cultural and social life in Reagan's America while the recent Time to Burn explores the violent clash of Black, Eastern European, Mediterranean, and American cultures. Mee's characters range from Hecuba to Wittgenstein, from Claire Booth Luce to Joe Pesci; his settings from Carthage to Palm Beach. He mixes wickedly witty dialogue with slapstick comedy and combines anarchic plotlines with classical forms and characters. The results are uncompromising, brutally honest portraits of contemporary society. History Plays collects six of Mee's best known works: Vienna: Lusthaus, The War to End War, The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador, Orestes, The Trojan Women a Love Story, and Time to Burn.

Contents:

Vienna: Lusthaus 1

The War to End War 11

The Investigation of the Murder in El Salvador 47

Orestes 87

The Trojan Women a Love Story 159

Time to Burn 251.

ISBN:

0801858054

0801857929

OCLC:

37373612