Naslov
Teaching Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Employing Modernist Themes and Motifs

Autori
Oklopčić, Biljana ; Horvat, Ivan

Izvornik
Teaching American literature (2150-3974) 8 (2016), 3; 34-53

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Eugene O’Neill ; Tennessee Williams ; Arthur Miller ; Modernism ; teaching

Sažetak
This paper attempts to offer a Modernist-based perspective on teaching Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (1941), Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (1949). Beginning with a brief theoretical excursus, the paper first outlines the most important features of Modernist discourse and Modernist drama. The second section of the paper discusses how Modernist themes and motifs (the sense of fragmentation, the burden of the past, moral ambiguity, social integration, painting the familiar, and the tragicomedy of cynicism) can be applied to teaching the afore-mentioned plays. The paper concludes by considering, in the light of possible objections, some consequences of our argument: it shows that Miller's, Williams', and O'Neill's plays do stand on their own as works of art but they also operate as catalysts to offer both students and teachers new interpretative and analytical opportunities.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA