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- Title
The Canonization of Christopher Shinn: A Modest Proposal on Ethics.
- Authors
Bottoms, Stephen
- Abstract
This article represents the first sustained critique of the work of contemporary American dramatist, Christopher Shinn. Beginning with an anecdote about the exclusion of one of Shinn's plays from a prospective new play anthology, apparently because he is not yet "canonical" enough, the article begs questions about how dramatic canons are constituted and policed. Through an analysis of three selected plays—"Where Do We Live" (2002), "Dying City" (2006), and "Now or Later" (2008)—the essay then argues for the distinctive political valency of Shinn’s work, reading it in particular through the work of contemporary philosopher Alain Badiou, and his thinking on both ethics and theatre. Shinn’s work, though clearly rooted in his experience as a gay man, functions to problematize familiar categorizations such as a gay/straight, liberal/conservative, West/East. Questions of difference and sameness are explored through the quotidian lives of Shinn’s characters, but also in relation to the major public events (9/11, the invasion of Iraq, the 2008 presidential election) to which the plays respond.
- Subjects
SHINN, Christopher, 1975-; AMERICAN dramatists; ANECDOTES; ANTHOLOGIES; DRAMA; WHERE Do We Live (Theatrical production); MAMET, David, 1947-; BADIOU, Alain, 1937-; POLITICAL theater
- Publication
Modern Drama, 2012, Vol 55, Issue 3, p329
- ISSN
0026-7694
- Publication type
Literary Criticism
- DOI
10.3138/md.55.3.329