Plays by Susan Glaspell (British and American Playwrights) [Paperback]

Susan Glaspell (Author), C. W. E. Bigsby (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 1987 | ISBN-10: 0521312043 | ISBN-13: 978-0521312042

A cofounder of the Provincetown Players and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) was one of the first female playwrights. Although long neglected, the four plays collected in this critical edition reveal the thoroughly modern nature of her concerns. Trifles (1916) develops a feminist critique of social role, while The Outside (1917) stages a debate between the life force and a perverse celebration of death. In The Verge (1921), Glaspell presented an experimental work of considerable proportions, more daring in many ways than anything attempted by O'Neill. And though Inheritors (1921) is far more conventional, it nonetheless questions the nature and reality of American pieties. Long known for a single play, Glaspell now emerges as a significant figure in the history of American drama, a woman of genuine creative innovation.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Four long-neglected works: Trifles (1916): The Outside (1917); The Verge (1921): and Inheritors (1921) reveal the creative innovation of one of the first women playwrights in the history of American drama.

Product Details

• Paperback: 161 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (July 31, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521312043
• ISBN-13: 978-0521312042
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Response to the 5/3/98 Reader Review, June 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Plays by Susan Glaspell (British and American Playwrights) (Paperback)

The play is named "Trifles" basically because of the idea that many of the things women do, or did in the play were considered "trivial things" to the men. Women were also considered "worrisome" creatures whose anxieties were not important either. Although these trivial, unimportant "things" were that way for the men in the play, those same things were considered very important to the women and their lives. I hope that helps.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For your Assignments on Trifles, May 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Plays by Susan Glaspell (British and American Playwrights) (Paperback)

This play is about the lives of women in a male dominant society. It displays the worth of women according to the men. The big "clues" in this play are considered trivial to the men. The actions of women are worthless compared to that of a man. However, the truth of the situation is only reached by weighing in these trifles...as can only be done through the understanding of other women.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Trifles" showed how men sometimes dominate women., April 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Plays by Susan Glaspell (British and American Playwrights) (Paperback)

I think "trifles" explained that men in todays world feel they have a power over women. The three women in "trifles" did overcome one man and that is what is important. Can anyone help me find journals on "trifles" or essays written about it for an english assignment? I need other sources for my paper. I would appreciate this very much.