Amazon.com: Cultural Calisthenics: Writings on Race, Politics, and Theatre (9781566632201): Robert Brustein: Books

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

New writings on race, politics, and theatre, as well as Mr. Brustein's incisive theatre reviews and deft portraits of stage luminaries. Brustein is an elegant and eloquent voice in the wilderness of contemporary American culture. --Robin Lippincott, New York Times Book Review

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } New writings on race, politics, and theatre, as well as Mr. Brustein's incisive theatre reviews and deft portraits of stage luminaries. Brustein is an elegant and eloquent voice in the wilderness of contemporary American culture. --Robin Lippincott, New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Once one of the most vocal proponents of risky, status quo^-shaking theater in such quintessential 1960s-era writings as those in The Theatre of Revolt (1964) and Making Scenes (1981), Brustein in recent years has fought a rearguard action against multiculturalism and those who would use theater to advance social and political causes. Yet he is no cultural conservative of the Hilton Kramer^-John Simon stamp and in many ways remains an old-style Kennedy-Johnson liberal. You never really know which side of an issue he will land on, which drives his more doctrinaire detractors crazy--and makes him fascinating. In this collection of witty, tightly written essays, most dated 1996 and 1997, Brustein gleefully gores sacred cows left and right, chiding the right for stifling the National Endowment for the Arts and the left for its superstitious belief in the power of art to affect social change. The first third of the book contains Brustein's thoughts on race and politics and the ongoing culture war, in particular Brustein's feud with August Wilson regarding white and black theaters, which culminated in a public debate in early 1997. The rest of the book contains trenchant, exceptionally well-written theater reviews and miscellaneous writings on theater, notably a eulogy of the Group Theatre founder, Stella Adler. Jack Helbig

Review

Cutting edge...one hopes that all the heavy breathing in these essays will engender others to join in this vigorous calisthenic workout. (Dramatist )

Passionate! (Carolyn Clay Boston Phoenix )

Brusteinís writing is good for the artists and good for the ever-dwindling discourse on theatre. (Daniel Mufson American Theatre )

Provocative and controversial...Brustein is unafraid to go against the grain. (Hap Erstein Washington Post )

Elegant and eloquent...Robert Brustein is the chief Cultural Imperialist. (Lippincott, Robin New York Times )

See all Editorial Reviews