Confrontation and Commitment, A Study of Contemporary American Drama 1959-66 by C. W. E. Bigsby (review)

1969 BOOK REVIEWS 217 ine, theater-going beginner, this book may tum out to be helpful. I say "may" simply because Mr. Nicoll, by leaving so much out in his effort to present only what pertains 'to modern drama, may have created a book that will give the beginner a somewhat distorted impression of the English drama as a whole. Finally, Mr. Nicoll's fourteen chapters-especially the last five-disclose a Pealelike preoccupation with what can be termed "positive thinking," thinking which includes, of course, large doses of good old-fashioned morality: Shakespeare, we are explicitly instructed, is never finally cynical or negative; Shaw may have "for a moment" descended into the dark vale of anti·human pessimism" when he wrote Methuselah; we live, alas, in a "prosaic age," an age concerned with pressing social issues, and the theater reflects this. Yet we must never scom men like Barrie and Coward (a playwright of "unrepentant faith" in the "theater of entertainment"); some current playwrights are going so far as to move "from the heterosexual into other sphere"; Shelah Delaney chose as a heroine "a girl made pregnant by a Negro"; the theater must never risk losing its audience of "children and their parents." I think that about does it. M. D. FABER University of Victoria CONFRONTATION AND COMMITMENT, A STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN DRAMA. 1959-66, by C. W. E. Bigsby. University of Missouri Press, Columbia. 1968, 187 pp. $4.95. C. W. E. Bigsby's book is a short, intelligent analysis of those American plays which achieved some sort of fame or notoriety during the eight years ending in 1966. Mr. Bigsby divides his playwrights into two categories, those who in a general way confront contemporary reality and those who have a more specific social commitment. Albee, Gelber, Arthur Miller and Kenneth Brown attempt to confront the emptiness of the universe and the horror of man's metaphysical situation, as a "first and necessary step towards understanding the freedom and responsibilities of man." Negro writers like James Baldwin, LeRoi Jones and Lorraine Hansberry address themselves to specific social ills. Although this is not the only way of looking at the recent American drama, it proves here to be a useful springboard for some trenchant analysis. Despite its intelligence, I cannot become particularly enthusiastic about this book. It seems to me essentially a branch of that higher journalism (or of that lower criticism) which one looks forward to reading in the good weekly reviews or the literary quarterlies. I am not trying to be snottily dismissive here, but many of these plays have as yet received no wide production and are, in effect, still news. Further, the period of this book is so near-indeed, we are undobutedly still in it-lhat we can hardly see its outlines. There may be a neat coherence, such as the author suggests, but it is really impossible yet to say. Arthur Miller, the oldest writer discussed, is still in his prime. Albee is yet a young man, and practically everybody else discussed has written only one or two full length plays. In other words, Mr. Bigsby has a subject only for an interim report, and I cannot think that the place for interim reports is between the covers of a book. This is not quite an academic quibble, and I should like 'to press the point because this volume seems to me a symptomatic one. The insufficient subject matter 218 MODERN DRAMA September is especially noticeable in the last half of the volume which is devoted mainly to the plays of Three Negro writers. However, Baldwin has only one published play, Hansberry has only two published plays, and Jones has only four one-acters, of which only three are discussed in the book. About these plays, Mr. Bigsby, who is certainly a perceptive critic, remarks: 1. Baldwin's play "degenerates into moral and dramatic confusion" and "lacks insight into prejudice and ability 'to create character beyond stereotypes." 2. Jones's The Toilet is "a poor eHort." 3. jones's Dutchman has "a simplified solution." 4. jones's The Slave "falls back on ... stereotypes." 5. Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun "remains disappointing...