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| Author(s): |
Éwerton Silva de Oliveira
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2017-02-03 |
| Examining board members: |
Maria Silvia Betti;
Agenor Bevilaqua Sobrinho;
Leslie Evelyn Ruth Marko;
Daniel Puglia;
Robert Sean Purdy
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| Advisor: | Maria Silvia Betti |
| Abstract | |
Considering the concept of epic in theater theories such as Szondis (2001) and Rosenfelds (2006), this research aims at analyzing the epic elements present in the structure of The Amer-ican Clock (1980), a play by the American playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005). The objec-tive is to study how this plays theatrical form (with its epic traces) puts on stage the Great Depression, which was responsible for devastating The United States economy after the 1929 stock market crash and during the 1930s. The American Clock contains more than 40 charac-ters (many of them are also narrators) who simultaneously discuss and experience the eco-nomic problems generated by this 1930s recession, which led millions of people to face mis-ery in this period. Although The American Clock is not one of Millers most studied theatrical works (both in Brazilian and American context), the analysis of this play is essential to a bet-ter understanding of the authors poetics, largely discussed by Brazilian critics and play-wrights: Miller overtly declares, in his essays, the importance of the epic element in The American Clocks creation, which is something singular in this playwrights career. The result of this explicit and conscious use of the epic by Miller is a deepened and broadened inser-tion of epic resources in this play, both the ones already present in other Millers works (char-acters-narrators, for example), and new ones such as dance and music. Another consequence of this epic consciousness is the authors use of concepts such as mural, vaudeville and oral narrative in order to create the form of the play. Arthur Millers concern in considering the epic in the creation of The American Clock exists, among other things, due to the necessity of putting on stage the Great Depression, a social, economic and historical subject, which brought crucial changes responsible for affecting socially, politically and culturally other dec-ades of American history (and, consequently, this 1930s economic crisis also affected the his-torical process of other countries such as Brazil). (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 12/17630-4 - The American Clock, by Arthur Miller: epic form and Great Depression |
| Grantee: | Éwerton Silva de Oliveira |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |