Background
Carpenter, Charles Albert was born on June 8, 1929 in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Charles Albert and Frances Mary (Kenyon) Carpenter.
(This volume provides a bibliographic and descriptive reco...)
This volume provides a bibliographic and descriptive record of English language plays that deal directly and significantly with "the Bomb", a code term denoting all major aspects of the Nuclear Age that relate to atomic weapons - but not nuclear power. Descriptions of the plays are oriented toward their content as nuclear-age dramas. The descriptions are presented in chronological order, since the plays vary in nature and number according to the nuclear situation that existed in the real world. It includes a selective chronology of that evolving situation along with the landmarks of literature and journalism that it spawned. An index of playwrights concludes the volume.
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( While the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki secu...)
While the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki secured an American victory in the Pacific and hastened the end of World War II, it also ushered in an era of fear. When the Soviets developed an atomic bomb, the United States ceased to be the world's only nuclear power. Americans feared a nuclear attack by the Soviets, while the British worried about being drawn into a nuclear conflict for which they were utterly unprepared and particularly vulnerable. The threat of nuclear war left a lasting mark on the British and American imagination. Like other creative artists, playwrights began to grapple with the terrifying implications of a nuclear holocaust. This study reveals how English-speaking dramatists, both major and minor, reacted to the stunning events of the Atomic Age and the early thermonuclear era. Moving from American to British responses, the book describes more than 25 plays and quotes a variety of reflections on the bombing of Japan, the evolution of the Cold War, the development of more and more refined atomic weapons, the proliferation of fallout shelters, and the occurrence of strategic crises, such as those in Suez, Berlin, and Cuba. The American plays are generally inferior to the British, with less experienced playwrights attacking a wide range of subject matter and experimenting with several dramatic styles. British plays more frequently protest the threatened imposition of an American-Soviet conflict upon their offshore island. The book concludes with a study of how Samuel Beckett's Endgame reflects a human dilemma distinctive to the Nuclear Age.
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(Shaw once referred to his dramaturgy as "a terrible art o...)
Shaw once referred to his dramaturgy as "a terrible art of sharpshooting at the audience." Adopting this perspective, Charles Carpenter closely examines Shaw's first 10 plays, among them, such pivotal works as 'Mrs. Warren's Profession, Arms and the Man, Candida, and Caesar and Cleopatra." The chief strategy of these early plays, the author argues, is that of exploding the fondest delusions of spectators and readers: their unquestioned ideals. Shaw regarded the destruction of ideals as a vital, ground-clearing step in the campaign for world-betterment which is apparent in all phases of his multifaceted career. Gradually shifting his attack in these early plays from specific attitudes toward society, especially those springing from the highly respected capitalist ethic, to the romantic and moral sentimentalities of Victorian England, and finally to revered but unrealistic models of heroism, he developed three distinct varieties of ideal-destroying drama, which the author describes as propaganda plays., critical comedies, and humanizations of heroic types of drama. These plays were designed to engage the audience in a subtle conflict of interests, leading, Shaw hoped, to a self-examination and reassessment of personal and popular values. The early plays culminate in the development of a new kind of heroic drama with a hero who is devoid of commitments to traditional institutions and morality. Instead, the most valued characteristic of Shaw's hero is wilfulness, the unconscious drive toward whatever may be necessary for the evolution of the race. The author analyzes each play in terms of the particular ideals it sets out to discredit and the realistic alternatives it unobtrusively recommends. He gives special attention to the role of artistic organization and dramatic technique in the Shavian "drama of ideas." The author draws extensively upon Shaw's letters and other nondramatic writings to support his conclusions.
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Carpenter, Charles Albert was born on June 8, 1929 in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Charles Albert and Frances Mary (Kenyon) Carpenter.
Bachelor, Allegheny College, 1951; Master of Arts in Library. Science, Kent State University, 1952; Master of Arts in English, Cornell Univercity, 1960; Doctor of Philosophy in English, Cornell Univercity, 1963.
Circulation library, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1952-1954; head library, Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio., 1954-1955; library Goldwin Smith Library., Cornell Univercity, Ithaca, New York, 1955-1961; instructor in English, U. Delaware, Newark, 1962-1964; assistant Professor of English, U. Delaware, Newark, 1964-1967; assistant Professor of English, State University of New York, Binghamton, 1967-1970; associate Professor of English, State University of New York, Binghamton, 1970-1981; professor, State University of New York, Binghamton, 1981-1995; professor emeritus, Binghamton U., since 1995.
(This volume provides a bibliographic and descriptive reco...)
( While the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki secu...)
(Shaw once referred to his dramaturgy as "a terrible art o...)
Member Eugene O'Neill Society, Harold Pinter Society.
Married Randi Rothrock Carpenter, November 4, 1950 (divorced 1985). Children: Carol, Linda, Janet, Diane. Married Martha Jean Clow Casella, December 27, 1992.