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American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard (PAJ Books)

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This is a rather eclectic anthology that includes critical analyses of Shepard's plays (written between 1963 and 1981) as well as first-hand accounts by some of the actors and directors who collaborated with Shepard on various productions. Taken as a whole, the critical essays address most of the plays Shepard wrote during those seventeen years. They do, however, vary wildly in quality. Editor Bonnie Marranca's opening essay, while often quite perceptive, occasionally falls prey to simplistic generalization. Jack Gelber's essay, The Playwright as Shaman, is marred by interpretive inaccuracies. The best of the bunch are Robert Coe's "Image Shots are Blown" : The Rock Plays which presents an illuminating analysis of The Tooth of Crime, Florence Falk's Men without Women: The Shepard Landscape which reveals how certain male and female character-types appear and reappear (in slightly different dress) in a fair number of Shepard's plays, and William Kleb's Worse Than Homeless, a beautifully written examination of True West from a Langian perspective. Also of note, are Shepard's own critical writings which define, albeit obliquely, his aesthetic and creative methods. Finally, it need be stated that despite its uneveness (which, after all, is endemic to anthologies), this book is essential reading for anyone interested in Shepard's work. It is certainly one of the most comprehensive examinations of this playwright and his plays presently in print.