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Talley's Folly (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

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...

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