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Foreword: A Simple, Brilliant Idea David Ives ix
Introduction Barbara Parisi xiii
A Second of Pleasure Neil LaBute 1
St. Francis Preaches to the Birds David Ives 17
The Stormy Waters, the Long Way Home Carey Lovelace 41
Early Morning Eric Lane 49
Sisters Adam Kraar Maria Filimon Tasnim Mansur 81
Little Duck Billy Aronson 89
A Portrait of the Woman as a Young Artist Meg Miroshnik 113
Slapped Actress Emily Conbere 153
The Last Artist in New York City Polly Frost Ray Sawhill 163
The True Author of the Plays Formerly Attributed to Mister William Shakespeare Revealed to the World for the First Time by Miss Delia Bacon James Armstrong 179
The Lovers and Others of Eugene O'Neill Maria Del Collins 191
III Joe Salvatore 217
Pete and Joe at the Dew Drop Inn Lewis Gardner 271
Decades Apart: Reflections of Three Gay Men Rick Pulos 285
508 Amy Herzog 313
Naked Old Man Murray Schisgal 325
Acknowledgments 351
Title: The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009
Hal Leonard LLC
Item Number: 9781557837608
Publication Date: October 2010
Number: 1
Product Description: The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009
Universal Product Code (UPC): 9781557837608
WonderClub Stock Keeping Unit (WSKU): 9781557837608
Rating: 3.4/5 based on 25 Reviews
Image Location: https://wonderclub.com/images/covers/76/08/9781557837608.jpg
Weight: 0.200 kg (0.44 lbs)
Width: 5.500 cm (2.17 inches)
Heigh : 8.400 cm (3.31 inches)
Depth: 1.100 cm (0.43 inches)
Date Added: August 25, 2020, Added By: Ross
Date Last Edited: August 25, 2020, Edited By: Ross
Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
$99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub (9288 total ratings) |
Lynn Ringeisen
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on March 23, 2010My first time reading short plays was rather intriguing. The majority of the plays were just so-so to me, but there were a few gems. I'm certainly not a play critic and I'd like to see some of them acted out to give the full effect. There are a few of these books out and I may find myself picking up the newest one in a month or so.
Chris Bowman
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on May 03, 2015I only read Red Light Winter, Death Comes for a Wedding and Totally (one of the plays in Seven Card Draw). Red Light Winter and Totally were good and worth a read. Death Comes for a Wedding was seriously lacking. This collection (and the few others of the Best American Short Plays series that I have read) contain mostly misses with a few average pieces with interesting moments.
Tony Muggridge
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on August 05, 2011The criteria for selection seems odd: subtext. It could be argued that all dialogue in all plays has subtext. The idea of best, the idea of short and the idea of 2009-2010 seem to have had no real bearing on the selection. The plays themselves are a mixed bag.
David Silverstein
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on December 31, 201016 unequal one acts: makes up for quality with vairety. Best are Ives' comic take on Saint Francis, James Armstrong's potrait of a nutty 19th century woman denying Shakespeare's authorship and her fixation on Hawthorne, Billly Aronson's satire of the creative process in children's tv.
Jolanta Hillebrandt
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on August 02, 2014Decent selection. Joe Tracz is an excellent playwright.
George Obrien
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on October 12, 2011Some very good stuff, one really lame and everything in between, but mostly leaning to the pretty good.
Ron Scerbo
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on November 15, 2008As a huge Kerouac fan, I've always been fascinated with the Beat Generation. I picked this up at an used bookstore on a whim, hoping to learn more about the writers who seemed to shape a generation in the way the Lost Generation did. What I really learned from The Portable Beat Reader is that I hate excerpts.
Ann Charter's Portable Beat Reader is extremely inclusive. She guides you through all the sections of the Beats Generation: Kerouac's group in New York, the San Francisco Poets, and the other groups that were inspired by the work these groups produced. Some of these writers (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Synder) I had heard of before, but there were several new names to me. I enjoyed the Portable Beat Reader more as a reference book than as a reader. I underlined titles of books that interested me and starred poems I enjoyed. I will definitely come back to this collection when I want to find something from the Beats to fit my mood.
Reading all the way through this book (like I did) is completely unnecessary. Skim around and read what you like. Read the writers that are new to you, and mark things to read later or in whole. Recommended for anyone deeply interested in the Beat generation.
Steve Moidel
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on October 27, 2012This is a very decent sampler of that movement known as Beat. This collection might not be the best source for answers to the questions, such as "What is Beat?", and "Who were the Beats?", as most of the offerings are excerpts from novels and poems. Reflective slices from essays to the above questions are few, but there is a smattering. The Alan Watts contribution presents a divergent strand which parenthesizes how diverse this Portable assemblage really is. The traditional names are present: Kerouac, Ginsberg etc. But others are included, such as Mailer and his intriguing "White Negro", which surprise as well as delight, if only for the apparent whimsy of a scattered inclusion.
Did this collection help me understand the "Beat Movement" better? I believe so. What do I understand about it? I was surprised at the rather low quality of writing, frankly. Maybe the choice of excerpts stands partly to blame, but I suspect not. In my not-so-humble opinion Burroughs was one of the few collected in this volume who could actually write with discipline, distinction, and intelligent depth. The sample taken from his Junky is quite intriguing. Its material feels fresh, even today. Kerouac places second'but a distant second. The elemental misogyny of the Beats also oozes through these pages. Many of them are devoted to eulogizing that eternal infant, Neal Cassady, who spent much of his time bagging babes and just having a good time. The eulogy becomes superficial and strained after a bit, regardless of the serried many who ascend the podium to continue the praise. I also was taken by how much of the Beat Movement was a poetry movement. I was also taken by how much of it I frankly couldn't "dig". Ginsberg's Howl and Sunflower Sutra were notable exceptions. Literary pedigree seemed more an adornment for the Beats than actual inspiration. Sure, literary references scatter themselves throughout the pages, but so does music references, jazz, and of course ol' Charlie Parker. Choice of word mattered much less than how you tapped it out. Watt is probably right that Beat is basically another nouveau, constructed religion; albeit one which searches for grace among the lower, modern classes. He outs that connection with Christianity. Beat's commitment against conformism of the 50s reminds a reader how important maintaining personal room to maneuver for expression in society should be if one is to remain human, as well as recognizing the freedom & existence of fellow humans. Even the Square had an important place in a Beat world. Put aside the drugs and the mindless debauchery, the Beats pointed toward the necessity for another human right: the right to dig someone else, and the right to be, in turn, dug by someone. Almost everything else beyond this elemental principle has been purloined, scripted, and co-opted ad nauseam by later teen cinema.
Justin Snapp
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on July 07, 2013This is a book I have had on the shelf for many, many years, but finally got around to starting to read. I had read On the Road earlier this year, so I thought I might find this one worth the read. This book is primarily designed for literature classes, or it sets up that way. You get a smattering of what these men and women wrote, but clearly not the whole thing. Still, even with what was presented, some of it was good, particularly the early poetry of Ginsberg. Yet, I found myself not really interested in much of this work. I get the themes of the early "founders" of young men who were trying to find some semblance of meaning and life in the post-war America. While America appeared triumphant, there was still discontentment, and the "Beat Generation" gave that voice. The literature covers themes such as drug use, homosexuality, abortion, crime, drinking...so clearly not something that would be studied a lot in a conservative setting (granted, this is not that much different than literature from any other era). Still, it wasn't quite my thing, or certainly so much in a condensed form. If you are taking a literature class surveying Beat Literature, this is for you...otherwise, better off sticking to the main texts.
David Sweigart
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on February 10, 2012Rereading, rather than reading. Plus, portable readers are meant to be dipped into and looked through with an eye toward a particular poem, section, fragment, or writer.
Naturally, the top three Beat writers are in the first section of this book, Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Burroughs -- love 'em, hate 'em or burn bongos in effigies at midnight, they made their mark on American culture, and continue to do so -- from new generation to new generation. The poet and confidant of the three, Corso is also included in the first section: "The Best Minds of a Generation" East Coast Beats. But, as Gregory Corso said in several documentaries on The Beats, "Three people does not a generation make."
Eric Fischer
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on February 26, 2020Visionary confessional stream-of-conscious autobiographical prose from every writer associated with the Beat Movement that arises in American literature in the 1940s and with final statements from the 1970s and maybe the 1980s. I read this in jail, which is just how such collection in Beat style should be read. I love William Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg and all the other associated talents more than ever. This book is a one stop shop for The Beats, who are surely the prelude, the build up patte Visionary confessional stream-of-conscious autobiographical prose from every writer associated with the Beat Movement that arises in American literature in the 1940s and with final statements from the 1970s and maybe the 1980s. I read this in jail, which is just how such collection in Beat style should be read. I love William Burroughs and Allen Ginsburg and all the other associated talents more than ever. This book is a one stop shop for The Beats, who are surely the prelude, the build up pattern, to the Rock And Roll generation.
Nicholas Littlefair
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on September 07, 2011"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked," I've been reciting this Allen Ginsberg "Howl" opener aloud and in my head over and over throughout reading this book. That habit is going to stick.
This is the Beat Generation Bible. Spanning east coast to west and everything in between, it's a time capsule containing the works of nearly 40 authors, both well known (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassady and Burroughs) and lesser (LeRoi Jones and Diane diPrima, whom I discovered on the day of her passing).
During a time when the mainstream media seems to have only one or two messages to share with the masses, this was a refreshing and irreverent palette cleanser and a reminder that one can and should form their own nuanced, complicated and unique opinions.
As Philip Whalen recognized, it is "possible for a poem to be its own shape and size".
Alex LaVelle
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on January 05, 2016A really nice sampling of "beat" literature! Sort of like a greatest hits compilation! Parts 1-3 were full of writings that I love, and that were wonderful to revisit! I especially enjoyed reading the "Joan Anderson" piece! Part 4 fell pretty flat for me, as did part 6 and the appendix. But Part 5 was my joy! The writings in it gave me the feeling of the people on the periphery of the Beats - the children, lovers, spouses, etc.! I really glorify and romanticize many of the Beat authors and literature, and this section grounded me a bit, showing some of the real consequences of that lifestyle and movement. Strong stuff. And strong book!
Tommy Taylor
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on November 13, 2011For those who enjoy the Beat writers, Ann Charters compiled an accessible collection of their work. What I enjoy - the book remains on my bookshelf - is reading the poetry and prose of the lesser known Beats.
Ken Shiloff
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on October 12, 2011Depuis
Tracy Gahan
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on June 05, 2009you can't have a Beat reader, have a "San Francisco Renaissance" section and not have Kenneth Patchen =]
Max Dax
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on December 11, 2010The sea darkens
the voices of the wild ducks
are faintly white
Jose Alberto Portilla Martinez
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on January 01, 2011Great sampler of the writings of the Beat generation. It has a lot of good work, but some of the selections are a bit stingy and finding some of the original works is easier said than done.
Peter Saunders
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on September 05, 2012We followed this and even stayed at the Chelsea Hotel, New York.
JEANETTE AVILA
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on November 18, 2010It took me a long time to get through this but it was an excellent review of the many beat poets and how they were all connected. I enjoyed their later works more than their early works because they seemed more experienced and wise about life. Maybe it's because I'm old now too. I gave it only 3 stars because beat composition is not my favorite - not because the book itself wasn't well done. The author did an excellent job of reviewing each writer - their history, works, etc - before each section.
Bob Marley
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on March 08, 2012Ann Charters is one of the main authorities on the Beat Generation, and in this book, an anthology of texts by and about the Beats, Charters traces the emergence and growth of this youth movement from the late 1940s and 1950s to the late eighties, at which time some of the authors, seen as oppositional when they first appeared, had finally become part of the American literary canon. The book begins with the texts one would expect to see: passages from Jack Kerouac's On the Road, William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch, Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," and poems by West Coast writers like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder. What one may not have expected was to find work by poets like Bob Dylan, who does have many literary themes and approaches in common with the central Beat writers (but in addition to Dylan, Charters might also have included work by Jim Carroll, an important poet and diarist whose work reflects many of the same techniques employed by writers like Kerouac and Burroughs). Moreover, Charters includes work by many women writers, which does something to balance the Beat canon, typically dominated by male writers. In addition to poetry by Anne Waldman and Diane di Prima, Charters includes memoirs both by Carolyn Cassady (an ex-wife of Neal Cassady) and Joyce Johnson (romantically linked with Jack Kerouac for a time).
Among the really useful inclusions in this book are Kerouac's "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose," "Belief and Technique For Modern Prose," Ken Kesey's essay on Neal Cassady's death, and Norman Mailer's terrific essay on hipsters and Beats, "The White Negro."
Calvin Dobbins
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on July 09, 2015Peace's Red Riding quarter jumps forward three years, this time following the screwed up lives of half-decent police officer Bob Fraser, and burned out journalist Jack Whitehead. Both are dangerously obsessed with Chapeltown prostitutes, and are sucked into an investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper's slaughter of these women. Both men are dangerously on the edge, and the plot follows the hollow, desperate plummet of their lives as events overwhelm them, and the extent of the corruption of West Yorkshire police force becomes clearer. Like 1974, this is brutal, compelling stuff, but not for the faint of heart, nor those enamoured with happy endings
Andrew James
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on May 24, 2012 I read about 1/2 of this book in November, while I was on my trip to Rome, and I really enjoyed it, but found some of the featured authors a bit plodding. And yet, I picked it up to fill in some gaps in my historical knowledge of the movements of that period and some history of the city I live in (San Francisco), and influences to my social circles and lifestyle. I had no idea how much of an influence this small group of notable "Beats" had on society and later generations.
I remember watching cartoons that featured Beatniks, and seeing Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, as a caricature of a Beatnik (or Beat's girlfriend, as they were a male-dominant group, with women mostly in the side-lines). My sister, only 6 years my junior, had no knowledge of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco; Couldn't even recall having heard of Beatniks, Beats, Beat Poetry, many/any of the major authors/poets, or Beat *anything* when she moved to San Francisco! Shocking! Although in retrospect, my knowledge was hardly rich with understanding, even though I'd read some Burroughs, knew of Kerouac and On the Road, Ginsberg and Howl.
I appreciate this anthology because Ann Charters does a great job of positioning the works, the sentiments and feelings in relation to history. Coming from only a rudimentary knowledge of the era and the motivation of the Beats, it's helpful to have the stories and poems skillfully placed alongside the back-stories of the people involved and the times they lived in.
This book reminds me of the best parts of evaluating writing in a college classroom - an adept, knowledgeable guide can make a huge difference to understand, or better, *liking* a piece. While I may have been predisposed to liking Beat writing because of it's influence to my life and culture, I very much believe Ann Charter's book has given me much deeper appreciation and stronger liking for the works I've read in this anthology so far.
Victor Horowitz
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on January 02, 2015 I wasn't sure how to rate this book. It was a well edited volume, I'm just not crazy about the raw material. However, having published on Kerouac, I know feel better having more Beat under my belt. And it was nice not to have to read these works in their entirety.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy any of them. I really love Ginsberg's poetry, and I'd never read Kaddish before. There were other good pieces as well, but there were also several that really didn't deserve to be published. Because part of the Beat movement was the democratization of art, Kerouac, Ginsberg, and others would often urge their friends to write and most of what these friends wrote is very blah in my opinion. I think I enjoyed the three essays on the Beats by Mailer, Watts, and Holmes at the end of the book the most.
And though the Beats do annoy me, mostly because I'm not particularly interested in reading about drug trips and the like, a show I've started watching has given me perspective that makes me better appreciate the social forces they were up against. The show is Mad Men and follows ad execs in the 50s and their stifling suburban lifestyles. It makes the Beats feel like a real breath of fresh air.
Jason Jackson
reviewed The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 on September 18, 2017If memory serves me, I probably bought this book when I was 19 or 20 years old. I read several selections at the time, largely from authors or poets I already had interested in, and then this book sat on my shelf for a number of years. Fast forward to summer vacation 2008, and wanting something to pass the time. Being over 600 pages, it takes quite a bit of time to get through, but by in large the gems highlighted are truly worth your time. The book is divided into three chronological sections, essentially amounting to the founders, the coming of age of the 'Beat generation', and later reflections. The introductions preceding each section sets the stage and offer interesting bits of history to accompany your reading. Naturally not everything can be Ginsburg's "Howl" or Corso's "Marriage", but it's a pretty thorough sampling of this literary movement. What I found most interesting were the autobiographical works by the wives of the writers written later in their lives, which is included in the last section. That part in particular is worth a read, especially if you feel you've already experienced all you need to concerning Beat writers.
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Add The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009, This edition of the highly esteemed and long-enduring Best American Short Plays series contains fresh-voiced, cutting-edge plays by nineteen playwrights, both established and among the most promising of the new millennium. Each of these plays reflects the, The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009, This edition of the highly esteemed and long-enduring Best American Short Plays series contains fresh-voiced, cutting-edge plays by nineteen playwrights, both established and among the most promising of the new millennium. Each of these plays reflects the, The Best American Short Plays 2008-2009 to your collection on WonderClub |