Verbal Violence in Contemporary Drama

In this book Jeanette Malkin considers a broad spectrum of postwar plays in which characters are created coerced and destroyed by language. The playwrights examined are diverse and include Handke Pinter Bond Albee Mamet and Shepard as well as Vaclav Havel and two of his plays: The Garden Party and The Memorandum. These playwrights portray language''s manipulation of our political social and interpersonal worlds. Writing in a variety of idioms and styles the playwrights all reveal the link between language and power.