In this study, I examine the dramatization of violence against the female body in contemporary drama by women and the purpose behind their representational approaches. I concentrate on the representation of three types that I consider inclusive of other minor forms of violence: the political, the medical, and the social violations of the female body. In chapter one, I study the dramatic representation of political violence against women as their bodies become ideological expressions of their lands. This chapter analyzes Suzan-Lori Parks' Venus and Naomi Wallace's In the Heart of America. These dramas represent the violation of women's bodies to parallel the violation and rape of their lands that are effeminized by their subjugation to the dominant powers of the world. In chapter two, I examine the representation of medical violence against women's bodies as connoting the lower status of the female body within patriarchy. The dramas of this chapter, Louise Page's Tissue and Margaret Edson's Wit, illustrate how the female body is dehumanized and devalued by a patriarchal medical practice that fails to recognize the distinctive physical and mental needs of women. Finally, in chapter three, I discuss the dramatic representation of social violence as the most inclusive form of aggression against women. The plays of this chapter, Caryl Churchill's Vinegar Tom and Maria Irene Fornes' The Conduct of Life, emphasize the masculine fear of and intimidation by the female body's sexuality and productivity, which instigates all types of physical violence against women within the social context. In the conclusion, I discuss Eve Ansler's The Vagina Monologues as a piece of performance art that instigates an active type of opposition against women's subjugations and violations. The activism of this type of drama and its effectiveness in enforcing change upon women's lives makes it an excellent extension to the type of ideas and notions brought about in this dissertation. / Department of English

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 336-347).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [394]-424).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1960. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

"A concern for those 'details which most people don't care about' is the 'province' of all professional librarians and in the selection of a topic for a professional paper this writer has had as a concern the finding of a topic that would foster and further bibliographic competency. As a result an author who is not well-known or recognized in literary circles, but one who has afforded much pleasure and enjoyment to the popular reading public, was chosen. This author, Rose Franken, was selected for three reasons. The first was that, her personal life having been a thing apart and biographical material thus limiter, the promise of finding and relating fugitive material about her offered a challenge. The second was that, her plots and themes having been repeated often, the possibility of finding their connections seemed a worthy endeavor. The third was that, Franzen having been published in book separate and omnibus editions under similar titles, the discovery of the relationships between the original printing and omnibus editions was held of interest and use. Consideration of her literary output has been limited to works printed in book form, with the exception of one novel, Claudia, the Diary of a Marriage, which, although it has not appeared between hard covers, was included because it is the concluding volume of the 'Claudia' stories"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1955." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-46).

The increase in the number of literary awards has created a selection problem for the librarian in that she is not always able to accept automatically a work solely on the basis of its recognition as a prize winner. It has become necessary that the librarian familiarize herself with the background and program of the body making the award, the works per se and subsequent criticism in order to judge their worth for the library collection. The writer of this paper, recognizing this problem, was prompted to investigate the worth of literary awards. A preliminary survey of the awards and critics' reaction to them indicated a more detailed study would be justified. A thorough investigation of all the literary awards would be impossible, but a study restricted to one seemed worthwhile as well as practical. This, in turn, would form a basis for the evaluation of comparable awards, for techniques employed here, in all probability, could be used in a study of other recognized literary works. This paper, therefore, encompasses Pulitzer Prize dramas for 1918 to 1950 and evaluates these dramas, in terms of popular and literary merit. / "August, 1953." / At head of title: Florida State University. / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Mary Edna Anders, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66).

Dramatic works from America with AIDS as subject matter have evolved over the past twenty years. In the early 1980s, dramas like Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, William Hoffman's As Is, and Robert Chesley's Night Sweat educated primarily homosexual men about AIDS, its causes, and its effects on the gay community while combating the dominant discourse promoted by the media, government, and medical establishments that AIDS was either unimportant because it affected primarily the homosexual population or because it was attributed to lack of personal responsibility. By the mid-eighties and early nineties, playwrights Terrence McNally (Love! Valour! Compassion!)and Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey)concentrated on relationships between sero-discordant homosexual couples. McNally's "Andre's Mother" and Lips Together, Teeth Apart explored how families and friends face the loss of a loved one to AIDS. Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America epic represents living beyond AIDS as a powerful force. Without change and progress, Angels warns, life stagnates. Angels also introduces the powerful drugs that help alleviate the symptoms of AIDS. AIDS is the centerpiece of the epic, and AIDS and homosexuality are inextricably blended in the play. Rent, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical by Jonathan Larson, features characters from an assortment of ethnic and social backgrounds - including heterosexuals, homosexuals, bi-sexuals, some with AIDS, some AIDS-free, some drug users - all living through the diverse troubles visited upon them at the turn of the millennium in the East Village of New York City. AIDS is not treated as "special," nor are people with AIDS pandered to. Instead, the characters take what life gives them, and they live fully, because there is "no day but today" ("Finale"). Rent's audiences are as varied as the American population, because it portrays metaphorically what so many Americans face daily - not AIDS per se, but other difficult life problems, including self-alienation. As such, Rent defies the dominant discourse because the community portrayed in Rent is the American community.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the teacher as represented through characters in successful American commercial drama.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a figuração dramatúrgica do indivíduo em duas peças produzidas pelo grupo teatral The Provincetown Players: Suppressed Desires (1915), de Susan Glaspell e George Cram Cook, e Before Breakfast (1916), de Eugene ONeill. Consideramos que o estudo da produção desse grupo norte-americano traz importantes reflexões acerca da representação de questões históricas, políticas e estéticas recentes naquela época , e que vieram a ter desdobramentos em diversas direções no teatro contemporâneo. / This work aims at analyzing the dramaturgical figurations of the self in two plays produced by The Provincetown Players: Suppressed Desires (1915), by Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook, and Before Breakfast (1916), by Eugene O\'Neill. We believe that the study of the production of this American group introduces important reflections on the representation of historical, political and aesthetic factors recent then , which came to have developments in several directions in contemporary theater.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a representação dramatúrgica da família na peça A Lie of the Mind, do dramaturgo estadunidense Sam Shepard, e os recursos por meio dos quais essa representação, tal como realizada, configura elementos de crítica à ideologia dominante relacionada ao papel da família no contexto sócio-histórico do país. Serão levantados, aqui, os aspectos formais da peça, principalmente os que se relacionam com a estética expressionista e com outros expedientes de criação que a distanciam do drama convencional. O objeto do estudo é o texto dramatúrgico original da peça (e não sua encenação). A análise tratará dos aspectos textuais e contextuais da peça e com base neles examinará as relações familiares figuradas em A Lie of the Mind como representativas e intrínsecas à situação social das personagens. / This dissertation aims at analysing the dramaturgical representation of family in the play A Lie of the Mind, by the North-American playwright Sam Shepard, and the means through which this representation, as developed in the text, brings forth elements of criticism to the dominant ideology related to the role of the family in the countrys socio-historical context. Formal aspects of the play will be approached, mainly the ones related to Expressionism and to other creative resources that drive it away from conventional drama. The study object is the original text of the play (and not the play in performance). The analysis will deal with textual and contextual aspects of the play and, based on them, will examine the familial relations that are represented in A Lie of the Mind as representative and intrinsic to the social situation of the characters.