Abstract
Shepard’s plays from 1977 to 1985 exploit the domestic sphere as an arena for rigorous introspection; by doing so, he situates them within a twentieth-century dramatic American genealogy that privileges the family home. However, this chapter will trace Shepard’s subversion of this site, created by a sophisticated destabilization of naturalism that in turn implies a surreality. Similarly, for Surrealist artists, the home was also a rich source for analysis that prompted an examination of selfhood and the origins of identity. In this interrogation, gender is a crucial factor, not least because woman became the definitive emblem of “convulsive beauty” in Surrealism, but because the entire movement has traditionally been viewed as gendered by a phallocentric agenda. This chapter will address accusations of misogyny directed at Shepard’s representations of women in comparison to the treatment of women by Surrealism. Connectedly, this chapter will consider how Shepard, like Surrealist artists, has exploited violence as an instrument in the bolstering of the male ego. I will explore how masculinity is depicted as a dangerous, yet alluring trait, along with the chronic recurrence of the antagonistic father figure, and the absence of women from this debate.
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Notes
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© 2015 Emma Creedon
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Creedon, E. (2015). Surrealism and Sam Shepard’s Family Plays: Representing Gender. In: Sam Shepard and the Aesthetics of Performance. What is Theatre?. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137527417_3
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