Odets, Clifford. (1906 - 1963).
L i f e
- son of Lithuanian-Jewish parents
- a political leftist, sympathiser with Marxism, and member of the US Communist Party
W o r k
- established himself as the champion of the underprivileged
- helped to establish the NY proletarian ‘Group Theatre’ (1931)
- concerned with topical issues, rushed the audience into revolution, often by using theatrically aggressive methods
- left for Hollywood as a script writer after WW II x but: achieved no success
Awake and Sing (1935):
- a young man experiences economic deprivations and turns from capitalism to socialism
Waiting for Lefty (1935):
- an experimental proletarian morality one-act play
- a strike of the taxi drivers with the union meeting taking place on the stage
- probably the most impressive proletarian play: uses violent speeches, music, and vivid language to stir the audience emotionally
- revolution and Marxism = the solution of the Depression
- conclusion: the actors leading the audience out of the theatre in a sharp march
Till the Day I Die (1935):
- an anti-Nazi play
Quote
"I'm asking to your faces how many's got hot suppers to go home to? Anyone who's sure of his next meal, raise your hand! A certain gent sitting behind me can raise them both. But not in front here! And that's why we're talking strike--to get a living wage"!
From Waiting for Lefty (1935).
Basics
(Photo: Carl Van Vechten. 1937. Source: Wikipedia).
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Author
Clifford Odets. (1906 - 1963). American. -
Work
Playwright. Author of Waiting for Lefty (1935). -
Genre
Left-wing drama in 1930s.
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.