The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Rice, Elmer
Rice, Elmer
(
1892
–
1967
), American dramatist, born Elmer Reizenstein in New York. His first major play was the expressionist drama The Adding Machine (
1923
), which satirized increasing regimentation and mechanization through the posthumous adventures of Mr Zero, a bookkeeper. His plays of the 1930s (We, the People,
1933
; Judgment Day,
1934
; Between Two Worlds,
1934
) are a response to the Depression and international ideological conflict.
Rice
was a campaigner for social justice and an outspoken critic of censorship. He wrote many other plays, some of them farces and melodramas, four novels, and a memoir, Minority Report (
1963
).
[The entire page is 105 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
