I have an idea for a book I’d love to write sometime. It would take a lot of research but could be really fun and very readable. It’s a study of the legacy of Walt Whitman and his poetry on American dramatic history. While I would obviously spend time discussing plays that reference Whitman directly (Angels in America being, of course, one of my favorites), I would spend equal or greater time discussing plays that seem to respond directly to Whitman’s legacy--like the “radical hospitality” (John Muse’s words) of 365 Plays/365 Days, or the plays of Sam Shepard or Gertrude Stein. Imagine chapters exploring these various motifs as they are explored and developed in American dramatic history:
• Walt Whitman’s radical inclusiveness (the listing impulse)
• Other qualities of Whitman's poetic output, as they have dramaturgical correspondents/descendents
• Walt Whitman’s vision of America (what America means to him and how that vision is found again and again in American plays)
• Walt Whitman’s vision of masculinity, which relates to…
• Walt Whitman’s vision of queerness (how the Whitmanian construction of queerness has a lasting legacy in American GLBTQ theatre—a needed response to all the attention paid to the Wilde legacy)
• [is considering Whitman's own theatrical self-presentation too much?]
• Walt Whitman’s vision of the theater (Whitman loved the theatre: explore how he constructs the theatre in his poems, and how the history of American theatre has lived up to, realized, or betrayed his vision)
In addition to researching everything about Walt Whitman and everything about American playwriting, I would also need to research what I can about Whitman’s legacy, how he has been constructed throughout the history of American popular culture, in order to discuss the “influence” question in specific terms.
I should totally write this book in, like, 15-20 years and become totally famous and get reviewed in The New Yorker because it’s so original and beautifully written!!
In addition to researching everything about Walt Whitman and everything about American playwriting, I would also need to research what I can about Whitman’s legacy, how he has been constructed throughout the history of American popular culture, in order to discuss the “influence” question in specific terms.
I should totally write this book in, like, 15-20 years and become totally famous and get reviewed in The New Yorker because it’s so original and beautifully written!!
