Clifford Odets by R. Baird Shuman (review)

326 MODERN DRAMA December to paragraph after paragraph of plot summary, length-of-run statistics, and critical reaction from the left, this book must be regarded more as a reference work-and a very useful one--than as a general work. MICHAEL J. MENDELSOHN United States Air Force Academy CLIFFORD ODETS, by R. Baird Shuman, Twayne Publishers, Inc., New York, 1962, 160 pp. Price $3.50. This study of Clifford Odets, the man and his works, is the thirtieth in the Twayne's United States Authors Series under the general editorship of Sylvia E. Bowman. As the author says in the Preface, this book represents the first fulllength study of Odets and of his plays. Following a brief biographical chapter, "Odets the Man," and a briefer one titled "Odets and the Proletariat," the sub· stance of the book is made up of an examination of the eleven Odets plays which have had New York productions. Mr. Shuman divides these chronologically into three periods: the first extending from 1935 to 1937 and including the famous social protest plays from Awake and Singl to Golden Boy,- the second from 1938 to 1941 and including three plays, Rocket to the Moon, Night Music, and Clash by Night, considered under the mapter heading "Love and Marriage"; and the third, from 1941 on, the period which Mr. Shuman calls that of "The Locust and the Peach," represented by The Big Knife, The Country Girl, and The Flowering Peach, the last of which opened on Broadway late in December of 1954 and ran until April of the following year. Mr. Shuman's discussions of these plays concentrate on analysis of theme and characterization. A roundup of criticism, mainly from reviews of the Broadway productions, is provided for each play. The author's own evaluation of Odet's output, however, is hardly provocative. He guardedly concedes, for example, that Odets "may well be called the most significant of the specifically proletarian of the 1930'S." (p. 148) That Mr. Shuman should, in his summing up, concede that Odets wrote his most important plays during the Depression, and thereby concur with the majority opinion, seems to belie his contention stated in the Preface that "All too little that has been written gives fair consideration to the fact that Odets has very much broadened his scope in the years following his initial successes--or to the fact that he has become more artistically conscious during these years." "Greater scope" and "greater artistry" would surely lead to "greater plays." Yet Mr. Shuman's judgments of the plays of the second and third periods tend to be negative: Rocket to the Moon "does not mark an artistic advance," (p. 100) and Clash by Night "was inherently weak in many respects." (p. 116) What positive judgment there is is not, except in regard to The FloweTing Peach, generous. The Country Girl is remarked upon for its "more restrained manner," (p. 135) and The Big Knife has "significant, far·reaching implications," (p. 126) even though the quotation from Brooks Atkinson immediately following this assertion-" . . . one of Mr. Odets' virtues is that he always tries to write on the high plane of dramatic art. . . ." (p. 126)-sounds like weak praise of the play's significance. Mr. Shuman calls The Flowering Peach the "most signif· icant Odets play." (p. 144) It marks a return to the specifically Jewish milieu of Awake and Singl, but one that substitutes for the bitter, naturalistic melodrama of the earlier play a kind of earthy gool humor. In The Flowering Peach the wisdom of the parents counts for more than the rebelliousness of the children. 1963 BOOK REVIEWS 327 For Shuman this is evidence of "Odets as a mature and well-developed artist rather than as a radical playwright who wishes to use the stage as a soapbox_" (p. 144) As a compilation of critical opinion about Odets' plays, Mr. Shuman's book serves a useful purpose. But to call it, as the author does, a full-length study, would seem to be promising more than is actually delivered. As the author himself says, in the Preface, "This book has done little to trace the literary and philosophical influences which...