Several critics over the years have pondered the “surprise” element in Susan Glaspell’s plays, novels, and short stories: her twists on conventional plot lines and her range of styles and genres, sometimes within the same work: the sentimental novel with unsentimental conclusions, character driven-plays with absent protagonists, a murder mystery that, as one writer asserts, turns into a “modernist revenge tragedy,” farce, satire, and expressionism. Glaspell draws on all these modes to dramatize conflicts that emerged with cultural and political shifts during the early decades of the twentieth century. Hybridity and intertextuality are key words to re-examine Glaspell’s continuing contribution to theatre and literature, and to the myriad interpretive lens that enhance our engagement with her work.
How fitting that this special volume “Susan Glaspell: Her Works Past and Present” appears in Coup de Theatre, its title suggesting a theatrical performance that celebrates the unexpected act...
Ce document sera publié en ligne en texte intégral en décembre 2026.
