The Zoo Story (Masterplots II: Drama)
At a glance:
- Author: Edward Albee
- First Published: 1959
- Type of Work: Absurdist/existential
- Time of Work: A summer Sunday afternoon in the late 1950’s
- Setting: Central Park, New York City
- Principal Characters: Peter, Jerry
- Genres: Existential literature, Drama, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Suicide, New York City, Communication, Alienation, Death or dying, Publishing or publishers
- Locales: New York, NY, Central Park, NY
The Play
While Peter is reading a book on a bench in Central Park, he is interrupted by Jerry, a total stranger, who announces that he has just been to the zoo. Anxious to return to his reading, Peter reacts with merely vague interest and lights his pipe, but he is immediately made uncomfortable by Jerry’s queries about his marital status, children, work, and menage of cats and parakeets. After repeating that he has been to the zoo and that Peter will read about it in the papers the next day if he does not see it on television that very night, Jerry follows several...
[The entire page is 2379 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
