Clifford Odets Summary

A playwright, film scenarist, and director, Clifford Odets (1906-1963) was America's outstanding dramatist in the 1930s. His colloquial dialogue, vital ideological protests on behalf of human dignity,... Read more

Born in Philadelphia to Louis J. and Pearl Geisinger Odets, Clifford Odets grew up in a Jewish section of the Bronx. Though Odets at times suggested that he was raised under the shadows of poverty, hi... Read more

In the following article, Odets defends his technique of constructing plays without plots. No one will deny that all over the world today life is changing for better or worse for millions of human bei... Read more

In the excerpt below, Rabkin examines Odets' incorporation of elements of agitprop into his writings of the 1930s. Clifford Odets scrawled his name across the page marked 1935 in American drama... Read more

Critical Essay by Stark Young Mr. Odets' "Night Music" has been generally taken, in so far as I have read comments on it, as a sort of Manhattan "Boy Meets Girl," th... Read more

Critical Essay by Harold Clurman Odets's work from the beginning contained "a protest that is also prophecy." There was in it a fervor that derived from the hope and expectation o... Read more

Critical Essay by Richard Hayes Mr. Clifford Odets' ["The Flowering Peach"] is a work of secular piety, imperfect and somewhat arid, but nonetheless, luminously touched with the i... Read more

Critical Essay by Mary Mccarthy Golden Boy again demonstrates the lesson of the Odets' Paradise Lost: that this author appears to be psychically glued to the material of his first play. He cann... Read more

Critical Essay by Edward Murray The structure of Odets' plays has been misinterpreted. To some extent the playwright himself is responsible for this critical confusion. "I was influenced... Read more

Critical Essay by Gerald Weales Mr. Bonaparte was wrong and so was Marion Castle. No man is so simply made that he has a single nature which a wrong turn can violate. The violation, too, is in his nat... Read more

Critical Essay by Joseph Wood Krutch Clifford Odets was given every encouragement to let himself go. Unfortunately he chose to be as little critical of his work as his admirers had been, and the resul... Read more

Critical Essay by Kenneth Burke After having been led, by the explicitly formulated objections of some dissenters, to expect that I would dislike Odets' "Paradise Lost," I finally... Read more

Shuman is an American biographer, editor, and educator. In the following essay, he explores Odets's personal background and relates Odets's upbringing to the Jewish character of his work... Read more

In the following essay, Peary explores Odets's flirtation with and eventual immersion into Hollywood screenwriting. Consider three contemporary playwrights. Sam Shepard becomes a movie star, a ... Read more

In the following essay, Groman examines Odets's reverence for the inspired creativity of Victor Hugo, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Ludwig van Beethoven. Groman then contrasts the high... Read more

Mendelsohn is an American educator, author, and critic. In the following interview conducted shortly before Odets's death, Odets comments on a wide range of topics, including theater, his influ... Read more

Hughes was an American playwright, editor, and critic. On the occasion of Odets's death, Hughes examines his reputation as a promising playwright who sold out to Hollywood. "What did I ... Read more

Weiner is a playwright and a former student and acquaintance of Odets. In the following essay, he uses his familiarity with Odets and his works to offer insight into Odets's controversial caree... Read more

Appel was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and one-time student of Odets. In the following essay, he relates his personal experience with Odets and discusses Odets's role at the ... Read more