{"product_id":"9781472585011","title":"The Contemporary American Monologue : Performance and Politics","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Contemporary American Monologue\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Eddie Paterson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTalk-show confessions, online rants, stand-up routines, inspirational speeches, banal reflections and calls to arms: we live in an age of solo voices demanding to be heard. In \u003ci\u003eThe Contemporary American Monologue \u003c\/i\u003eEddie Paterson looks at the pioneering work of US artists Spalding Gray, Laurie Anderson, Anna Deavere Smith and Karen Finley, and the development of solo performance in the US as a method of cultural and political critique. Ironic confession, post-punk poetry, investigations of race and violence, and subversive polemic, this book reveals the link between the rise of radical monologue in the late 20th century and history of speechmaking, politics, civil rights, individual freedom and the American Dream in the United States. It shows how US artists are speaking back to the cultural, political and economic forces that shape the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEddie Paterson traces the importance of the monologue in Shakespeare, Brecht, Beckett, Chekov, Pinter, O'Neill and Williams, before offering a comprehensive analysis of several of the most influential and innovative American practitioners of monologue performance. \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Contemporary American Monologue\u003c\/i\u003e constitutes the first book-length account of US monologists that links the tradition of oratory and speechmaking in the colony to the appearance of solo performance as a distinctly American phenomenon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Eddie Paterson presents a unique take on the form. He deftly argues that the contemporary American monologue is inherently political, in form and content … As part of the Methuen Drama Engage series, \u003ci\u003eThe Contemporary American Monologue \u003c\/i\u003emakes an important contribution to the discourse on solo theatre in the United States. Series editors Enoch Brater and Mark Taylor-Batty have shaped a book series that offers a wide variety of critical analyses of modern and postmodern theatre that has been largely ignored or warrants more attention. This volume will prove indispensable to solo performers, educators, and anyone with an interest in avant-garde or solo American theatre. With the contribution of Eddie Paterson’s rigorous study, the conversation on solo performance is now more extensive, while simultaneously inviting continued critical inquiry.” – \u003ci\u003eJournal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Paterson’s work is a significant addition to the critical studies of these four particular artists, the historical framework that contextualizes them, and the monologue form. Those who are led by the title to expect a monologue sourcebook for actors (as I was) will encounter much more.” - \u003ci\u003eThe Journal of American Drama and Theatre\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781472585011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Methuen Drama","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40596535541966,"sku":"9781472585011","price":32.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_d4f5bac4-561d-4452-b82a-8b5f54c81e1d.jpg?v=1637861072","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781472585011","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}