Susan Glaspell: A Critical Biography

During her lifetime, playwright and novelist Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) was regarded as highly as Eugene O'Neill and Edith Wharton. Winner of the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for drama (for Alison's House), she was cofounder of the Provincetown Players, the little theater that "discovered" O'Neill. Later, Glaspell was instrumental in introducing American drama to English audiences when her play The Verge was produced in London. Yet despite her many accomplishments, Glaspell is often overlooked in the standard histories of American theater. Now, Barbara Ozieblo returns this intriguing and important figure to the spotlight.

Ozieblo combines an engaging narrative of Glaspell's life with insightful analysis of her creative works. Rebelling early against the expectations imposed on women of her era, Glaspell grappled with the conflict between Victorian mores and feminist aspirations throughout her life. In Trifles, now recognized as a groundbreaking feminist drama, she explored the reasons for a woman's extreme response to her husband's demanding, authoritarian stance. Ozieblo also investigates Glaspell's relationship with dramatist George Cram Cook, exploring the scandal that surrounded their courtship and marriage as well as the life they led among the bohemians of Greenwich Village.

Author: Barbara Ozieblo
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 10/16/2000
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.29h x 5.78w x 0.89d
ISBN: 9780807848685

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/15/2000 pg. 81
Booklist 10/01/2000 pg. 313
Choice 03/01/2001 pg. 1274
New York Times 08/05/2001 pg. 20

About the Author
Ozieblo, Barbara: - Barbara Ozieblo teaches American literature and women's studies at the University of Malaga in Spain.