Weasels and Wisemen Ethics and Ethnicity in the Work of David Mamet

by Kane, Leslie

• ISBN13: 9780312238841
• ISBN10: 0312238843
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-06
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Winner of two Obie Awards, a New York Drama Critics Award, and the Pulitzer Prize, David Mamet is widely considered to be one of the most prolific and powerful voices in contemporary American theater. A seminal figure whose reputation as an innovative playwright and filmmaker demands an appraisal of his thought and the evolution of his craft, Mamet's commitment to the dynamic of ethics and ethnicity heavily informs his work. Weasels and Wisemen is the first major study of Mamet's work to investigate the moral vision and cultural poetics upon which this playwright's vision is founded. Tracing the development of Mamet's canon over a period of twenty years from his early unpublished play Marranos through his most recent work, Leslie Kane examines the subtle link between the moral vision and ethical behavior that distinguishes Mamet's theater and film.

Author Biography

Leslie Kane is Professor of English at Westfield State College. She is the author of The Language of Silence and the editor of David Mamet: A Casebook, winner of the Choice Award for Outstanding Scholarship.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: The Things They Carried	1	(10)
The Comfort of Strangers	11	(46)
Caught in the American Machine	57	(46)
``Fuck Money....But don't fuck `people'''	103	(38)
The Humanist Fallacy	141	(44)
Coming Home	185	(42)
Gathering Sparks	227	(34)
A World Apart	261	(54)
Epilogue: Seeing Clearly	315	(4)
Notes	319	(48)
Works Cited	367	(28)
Index	395