Battling the Legions of the Ungodly: Alternative American Drama and the Vietnam War

Alternative American drama in the post-war period provided vital cultural ground upon which the politico-religious debate between those who supported the hegemonic view of the American subject and those who sought to fashion alternative languages of national identity took place. This essay explores...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Comparative American studies 2011-03, Vol.9 (1), p.35-54
Main Author: Brewer, Mary F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CULTURAL MYTH
DRAMA
Hegemony
Myth
NATIONAL IDENTITY
POLITICS
Post-war history
RELIGION
Religious ideas
Self
Sociology
Sociology of art and literature
Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture
U.S.A
VIETNAM WAR
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Summary:Alternative American drama in the post-war period provided vital cultural ground upon which the politico-religious debate between those who supported the hegemonic view of the American subject and those who sought to fashion alternative languages of national identity took place. This essay explores how two key examples of American theater in the Vietnam era - Megan Terry's Viet Rock and Arthur Kopit's Indians - complicate the triad of God-Society-Self as text and context of the national self. The plays are explored within the social, political and religious contexts within which they were written and produced.
ISSN:1477-5700
1741-2676
DOI:10.1179/147757011X12983070064872