The first complete collection of the works of American playwright Susan Glaspell, this book includes all of the Pulitzer Prize winner's works: Suppressed Desires, Trifles, The People, The Outside, Woman's Honor, Close the Book, Tickless Time, and Free Laughter (these eight are all one acts) and the full length plays Bernice, Inheritors, The Verge, Alison's House, The Comic Artist, Chains of Dew, and Springs Eternal, the last two of which are published here for the first time. Each play includes an introductory essay along with extended biographical and critical essays. Two appendices give details on both the first runs and select recent productions of the plays.

Susan Glaspell, an American dramatist, writer, journalist, and actress, lived from 1876 until 1948. She was raised in Iowa, went to Drake University, and then became a reporter for the Des Moines Daily News. Later, she relocated to New York City and started creating plays. She rose to prominence with the Provincetown Players, an avant-garde ensemble of authors and artists who presented experimental plays in Greenwich Village. Gender and social justice were frequent themes in Glaspell's plays. "Trifles" (1916), a one-act drama that examines the life of rural women in the Midwest and the violence that may develop in a patriarchal culture, is her most well-known work. Other noteworthy plays include "The Verge" (1921), which is about a woman's battle for artistic expression in an oppressive society, and "Inheritors" (1921), which is about the disagreements between a rich family over inheritance. In 1931, she won the Pulitzer Prize for theater for her play "Alison's House." Glaspell was a political activist and a supporter of women's rights in addition to her literary profession. She participated in a number of causes, such as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and was a member of the Heterodoxy Club, a feminist organization in Greenwich Village. 1948 saw the passing of Glaspell in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments     

Editorial Note      viii

A Brief Biography     

A Critical Introduction     


Suppressed Desires     

Trifles     

Close the Book     

The People     

The Outside     

Woman's Honor     

Tickless Time     

Bernice     

Free Laughter     

Chains of Dew     

Inheritors     

The Verge     

The Comic Artist     

Alison's House     

Springs Eternal     


Appendix A: First Productions of the Plays     

Appendix B: Select Recent Professional Productions     

Select Bibliography     

Index