What Do I Read Next?
- The website "Joseph Pulitzer and the Pulitzer Prizes" provides a brief biography of Margaret Edson at http://www.pulitzer.org/History/history.html (as of February 2001). It also offers a more detailed biography of Joseph Pulitzer, along with an engaging history and background of the prize. Additionally, it features a list of all Pulitzer Prize winners.
- Kevin Sack penned the article "At Lunch with Margaret Edson" for The New York Times on November 10, 1998. Sack interviewed Edson at the Atlanta school where she teaches kindergarten. The article is accessible in the archives section of The New York Times website, though there is a fee to download it. However, it can be accessed for free through public libraries.
- Betty Carter's article, "An Interview with Margaret Edson," appeared in the September/October 1999 issue of Books & Culture. The interview highlights Edson's use of the children's story The Runaway Bunny in her play.
- The play Whose Life Is It Anyway (1978), authored by Brian Clark, features a sculptor as the main character, portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss during its New York run. Following a car accident that leaves him paralyzed, the sculptor pleads with his doctors to assist him in dying. When they refuse, he takes legal action to assert his right to die.
- Written by Michael Cristofer, The Shadow Box (1975) won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. The play explores themes of life, love, and death, focusing on three individuals confronting their mortality while residing in an experimental hospice in California. The narrative delves into the challenges they face in accepting their impending deaths, as well as the struggles experienced by their visiting family members. The play is noted for its philosophical depth, unexpected humor, and rich conflict.
- The collection Time to Go: Three Plays on Death and Dying, with Commentary on End-of-Life Issues (1995) includes three short plays: Berry Barta's Journey into That Good Night, Marjorie Ellen Spence's Stars at the Break of Day, and C. E. McClelland's Time to Go. These plays are designed for simple stage performances or readings to encourage discussions on end-of-life topics, and the book provides suggested questions to guide these conversations.
- George Bernard Shaw's play The Doctor's Dilemma (1906) has seen a resurgence nearly half a century after his passing. The play tackles the theme of medical ethics, questioning whether a doctor has the right to decide who should live or die. It reaches a climax with a dramatic death scene and an ironic twist.
- The 1999 publication Devotions upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel features works by John Donne, with an introduction by Andrew Motion. The introduction has been praised as entertaining, accessible, and clear. The book includes writings from when Donne was seriously ill with a fever that doctors believed would be fatal, as well as his final sermon delivered one month before his death. It contains a biography of Donne by Izaak Walton, written in 1640, along with Donne's "Devotions" and "Death's Duel," both regarded as some of his finest work.
- Sylvia Plath's poem "Death & Co." is often compared to the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, as it explores themes of death. In the poem, Plath personifies death as a lover, a technique used by metaphysical poets to convey the darker aspects of love.
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