Hellman, Lillian. (1905 - 1984).
L i f e
- a NY playwright of Southern origin
- an anti-fascist activist during the WW II
W o r k
E v i l i n t h e H u m a n H e a r t :
- an individually psychological point of view
The Children's Hour (1934):
- the abuse of power and its consequences
- a privileged student wrongfully accuses her college teachers of a lesbian relationship, corrupts their lives, and one of the accused commits suicide
E v i l i n t h e A m e r i c a n S o c i e t y :
- a broader point of view x but: presents the social evil in individual characters and plots
The Little Foxes (1939):
- the title: from the biblical foxes destroying the fruitful vineyard
- the destructive foxes = the symbol for the ruthlessness of the Southern enterprising family of the Hubbards
The Watch on the Rhine (1941):
- a warning for the Ameran public before the danger of fascism
Another Part of the Forest (1946):
- a retrospective return to the Hubbard family
The Autumn Garden (1951):
- a contemporary play: the middle aged people’s attempt to recapture the sense of youth
Quote
"If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The end is inevitable from the beginning. But if you believe that man can solve his own problems and is at nobody’s mercy, then you will probably write melodrama".
Lillian Hellman's answer to her critics’ complaints that her plots are melodramatic.
Basics
(Photo: Wikipedia).
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Author
Lillian (Florence) Hellman. (1905 - 1984). American. -
Work
Playwright. Author of The Little Foxes (1939). -
Genres
Modern drama. American South. Political play.
Literature
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Cunliffe, Marcus. The Literature of the United States. London: Penguin, 1991.
Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.
McQuade, Donald, gen.ed. The Harper American Literature. New York: Harper & Collins, 1996.
Ruland, Richard, Malcolm Bradbury. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997.
Vančura, Zdeněk, ed. Slovník spisovatelů: Spojené státy americké. Praha: Odeon, 1979.