Clifford Odets and American Political Theatre (review)

Christopher Herr's biography of playwright Clifford Odets reveals a man caught between three worlds—his social underpinnings, his politics, and the economics of the time. In a move away from Margaret Brenman-Gibson's 2002 psychoanalytical approach, Clifford Odets, American Playwright: The Years from 1906-1940, Herr explores Odets's familial relationships, his associations with the Group Theatre and Hollywood, the political exigencies of the 1930s and 1940s, and the economic turmoil surrounding the Group Theatre and Odets's writing. Herr provides a useful biography, insightful play analyses, and is one of the first to examine Odets's Hollywood screenplay career.

Herr divides his book in a consistent manner; each grouping of chapters usually has a brief biographical section followed by a history of that period. Next, Herr explains how Odets fits into the era, followed by an explication of Odets's plays from that same period. Following the brief worldview histories, Herr usually examines Odets's life within these histories, which allows the reader to understand where Odets fits into his era. For example, Herr describes the political and economic frivolities of the 1920s, saying that "Odets' father bought a Pianola, which served as much as a symbol of success as a musical instrument" (12). Herr speculates as to how this affected Odets's politics, especially how it shaped his views on the economic status of Americans. This moment also served as impetus for how Odets questioned the purpose of such aggressive socioeconomic climbing in his plays. Commendably, Herr describes economic positions with subtlety, so as not to paint himself into an economic/political landscape that might invite the reader to dismiss the author for leaning politically to one side.

In the first section of play explications ("'Life Printed on Dollar Bills': The Marketplace in Odets' Group Plays"), Herr highlights fruit imagery found in Odets's early plays, making ties to Odets's Jewish fruit-selling uncle with whom a young Clifford spent time. Herr then ties the fruit imagery to American economics and the American Dream, in that fruit represents "having it all" in America. When there is a lack of fruit, there is a lack of economic happiness: "Odets' use of fruit imagery as a whole follows much the same pattern; it suggests a utopia, but a utopia caught between physical necessity and consumer desire" (73). Herr presents an interesting analysis, but Harold Cantor presented a similar reading twenty-five years ago (see Clifford Odets, Playwright-Poet). However, Herr's take does establish closer readings than Cantor's, including his section on Golden Boy and Paradise Lost, two plays Cantor did not delve into as deeply.

In the chapter entitled "'A Real Artist of the People': Odets' Post-Group Plays," Herr brings some interesting and original insights into Odets's later years, as well as his Hollywood screenplays. Herr uses Clement Greenberg's notions of "kitsch" and charts Odets's move from being strictly market driven to making commentaries on popular culture. Odets felt communism was too confining, so he chose to move toward popular art. Herr asserts that Odets fashioned his work to gather a predetermined emotional response from his audiences, while ceasing to produce overt politically and economically questioning work. In this conflict between art and commercialism lies the heart of Odets's later writing. After the Group Theatre relationship dissolved, Herr argues that Odets's work began to have more of a "ring of truth" because it fit more in line with mainstream American notions of popular art. Herr notes that "ring of truth" is neither a good nor a bad aspect; the further Odets moved from politically motivated plays the closer he moved to a popular audience. Herr is cautious not to paint Odets as a sellout saying adroitly that to do so "not only misses the political arguments that do exist in the plays but also indicates a preconceived idea of what Odets should have written" (148).

Although Herr presents a comprehensive historicizing of Odets, he does miss the mark when...