The Time Is Ripe: The 1940 Journal of Clifford Odets : With an Introduction by William Gibson - Softcover

Odets, Clifford

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802131891 ISBN 13: 9780802131898

Publisher: Grove Pr, 1989

Synopsis

The playwright's thoughts on the artistic, personal, and social aspects of his life at a time when his popularity was greatly diminished includes glimpses of the Triumphant Group Theatre members and others close to him

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

When Odets kept this diary in 1940, his best plays were behind him, his drama Night Music had just failed, the Group Theatre was falling apart and so was his marriage to movie star Luise Rainer, from whom he had separated. This egotistical journal is introspective but lacks self-insight. The author of Waiting for Lefty bitterly writes that one can "never trust an American audience to understand" a complex character. He smolders with resentment toward "neurotic" Rainer and rhapsodizes about his girlfriend Bette Grayson, who would soon become his wife; he pans director Harold Clurman's "lamentable bungling"; philosophizes about Beethoven and projects his own misery onto Berlioz, Mozart and Leopold Stokowski. The diary is mainly of interest for its gossip about Fay Wray, Elia Kazan, Theodore Dreiser, Louis Nizer, George Balanchine, Walter Winchell, others. Photos. First serial to American Film.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Clifford Odets kept a journal only in 1940, an important year for the playwright. After a decade of successes, the year began with the failure of Night Music . Odets's private life also reflected the world's anxiety in that year. His journal shows a gigantic ego lavishing severe judgment on friend and enemy alike, and an overactive libido seeking the perfect woman (he had access to a breathtaking array of them). Although Odets was hard on everyone, he judged himself most severely. This journal records the dark journey of a life and time out of joint yet seeking their proper form. Interspersed are glimpses of major figures in modern American theater and film. Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Pr
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802131891
• ISBN 13: 9780802131898
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 392