The Skin of Our Teeth (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thornton Wilder
- First Published: 1942
- Type of Work: Play
- Genres: Satire, Drama, Parody, Tragicomedy
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, 1940’s, Human race, New Jersey, Servants, Ice Age, Dinosaurs
- Locales: Atlantic City, NJ, Excelsior, NJ
Wilder's last great play was The Skin of Our Teeth, which opened on Broadway on November 18, 1942. The play, with its allegorical mixture of contemporary and biblical events, confused some of the critics but proved delightful to audiences and ran for 355 performances. The play has been revived frequently and in 1961 was given an international tour by the U.S. State Department with Helen Hayes and Mary Martin in the leading roles.
What Wilder dramatizes in The Skin of Our Teeth is the struggle of humankind to survive, a conceit much appreciated by wartime audiences....
[The entire page is 944 words long]
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