The centre of this dissertation is an attempt to define and assess the dramatic works of Canadian playwright Patricia Joudry. This compilation of the author's prodigious output between 1940 and 1981 will make all the dramas for radio, television, and the stage accessible to the public for the first time. The study discusses the author's approach to writing, her thematic and philosophical preoccupations, and investigates the influence of her personal life on her dramas. A detailed biographical study, based on an examination of Joudry's published and unpublished works, private papers, letters, and interviews is included. The dramas are presented chronologically, thematically, and according to the medium for which they were written. One chapter examines the author's absorption with occultist lore, and deals with the plays produced during a two-year period of "religious delusion." The bibliography contains critical reviews and production notes, and comprehensive lists of all of Joudry's produced and unproduced dramas, published and unpublished essays, novels, and autobiographies.

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