Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Wilson, Lanford (Vol. 14) - Stanley Kauffmann

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page
4. Tweet This

STANLEY KAUFFMANN

[Talley's Folly] is another piece of Lanford Wilson's front-porch knitting about the South Central states, full of the click-clack of theatrical needles that obviously brings joy to critical hearts nostalgic for old fashions. The play is a two character hokum-jokum—a self-styled "waltz."… The way in which the man of the pair addresses the audience at the beginning and end; the ungainliness and self-doubt of the woman; the loneliness of two wounded people; the seedy elegance of the setting; the inclusion of inserted jokes—these are all Tennessee Williams derivatives. The difference from the best Williams is that no authentic mood or character or feeling is ever generated, just a series of facsimiles that lead to revelations whose only point is to justify the series of facsimiles that led to these revelations whose only point etc….

[The] glibly summoned nostalgia, the distant band music, the southern summer evenings, are just...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Catharine Hughes
3. Richard Eder
4. Edith Oliver
5. John Simon
6. Erika Munk
7. Edith Oliver
8. Julius Novick
9. John Simon
10. Harold Clurman
11. Stanley Kauffmann
12. Copyright

1. Lanford Wilson