Shepard, Sam (Vol. 169) - Susan Harris Smith (essay date 1998)
Susan Harris Smith (essay date 1998)
SOURCE: Smith, Susan Harris. “Trying to Like Sam Shepard: Or, the Emperor's New Dungarees.” Contemporary Theatre Review 8, no. 3 (1998): 31-40.
[In the following essay, Smith assesses Shepard's current problematic critical reception, accounting for his early acclaim and his subsequently diminished reputation.]
When Eric Bentley tackled the problem of Eugene O'Neill's prominence, popularity and decline in his testy essay, “Trying to Like O'Neill”, in 1952, he began with a curse: “It would be nice to like O'Neill. He is the leading American playwright; damn him, damn all; and in damning all is a big responsibility. It is tempting to damn all the rest and make of O'Neill an exception. He is an exception in so many ways”. Commending O'Neill for his reticence, self-respect and independence from commercial pressure, Bentley wrote, “In a theatre, which chiefly attracts idiots and crooks...
[The entire page is 4516 words long]
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