True West (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sam Shepard
- First Published: 1981
- Type of Work: Play
- Genres: Realism, Drama, Mythological literature
- Subjects: 1980’s, Los Angeles, Brothers, Reality, Creative process, Filmmaking or filmmakers, Suburban life, Westerns
- Locales: Los Angeles, CA
Part of a family trilogy, True West differs from Shepard's other plays in its almost lighthearted bantering dialogue between the two protagonists. Austin, one brother of a pair, is conservative and formal, fitting into society with reasonable comfort. Lee, the other brother, is the cowboy misfit character of the type that Shepard uses in virtually every drama. They are both writing a film scenario about the true West, and their conversation, wildly funny in the beginning of the play, deepening as the action moves forward, is actually a debate about what (if anything) made...
[The entire page is 586 words long]
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