The American Dream (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Edward Albee
- First Published: 1961
- Type of Work: Play
- Genres: Drama, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: Values, Family or family life, United States or Americans, Perception, Twentieth century, Marriage, Conformity, Old age or elderly people, Materialism
- Locales: United States
The American Dream was the fourth play written by Albee. It received its American premiere at the York Playhouse on January 24, 1961, and ran for 370 performances. Four of the five characters in the play—Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Young Man—also appeared in an earlier Albee work, The Sandbox. Unlike The Zoo Story, The American Dream is an absurdist play.
The long one-act is structured into three major sections and eleven groupings of the five characters. The first part deals with the family unit itself—Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma—and the...
[The entire page is 867 words long]
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