Talley's Folly (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Lanford Wilson
- First Published: 1979
- Type of Work: Play
- Genres: Social realism, Domestic realism, Family literature, Drama, Comedy, War drama
- Subjects: Values, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Tradition, Love or romance, 1940’s, Midwest, Individuality, War, Missouri, Accountants or accounting
- Locales: Lebanon, MO
Set on July 4, 1944, Talley's Folly concerns two characters who are revealed largely through exposition and lengthy monologues: Sally Talley, a nurse headed for self-imposed spinsterhood, and Matt Friedman, a liberal Jewish accountant fond of using comedy routines to mask his vulnerability.
The “folly” of the play's title and the locale for the action is a boathouse that Sally's Uncle Everett constructed in place of a gazebo he had hoped to build. Wilson opens the play using a Wilder-like frame, with Matt as narrator/stage manager conspiratorially explaining to the...
[The entire page is 681 words long]
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