The New War Plays
The New War Plays From Kane to Harris Julia Boll
Julia Boll 2013 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-33001-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-46080-9 ISBN 978-1-137-33002-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137330024 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Contents Acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 1 War 11 2 Taboo 41 3 Testimony 80 4 Palimpsest 113 Conclusion 143 Appendix: Summaries of Plays 147 Notes 163 Works Cited 167 Index 179 v
Acknowledgements Writing this book would not have been possible without the professional insight and the personal encouragement of a number of people who very generously offered their time and advice. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Olga Taxidou, who helped me find my voice, and to Roger Savage, who taught me how to shape it. Their unwavering encouragement and support, intellectual and emotional, gave me the confidence and strength I needed to see this project through to the end. This project was funded by the University of Edinburgh s College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2006 2010, and I am unreservedly grateful for having been given the opportunity to pursue this project. Furthermore, I am grateful to the Mellon Foundation for providing me with the chance to attend the Mellon Summer School of Theater and Drama Research in 2012, where I was lucky enough to be part of the writing workshop led by Andrew Sofer, who read my initial proposal and commented on it with great insight. His generous help and invaluable editing and writing advice have shaped and strengthened my outline, and the professional input and support of my fellow group members Kate Bredeson, Joshua Edelman, Jon Foley Sherman, Kyna Hamill, Liza Kharoubi, Aneta Mancewicz, Andrés Perez-Simon and Chris Woodworth have been important and often comforting during the last phase of the project. Further thanks are due to a number of academics who supported my initial ideas and nurtured the slow generation of my work over the years by offering wise suggestions, close reading and intricate advice: Logie Barrow, Bob Brecher, Adam Budd, Simon Malpas, Norbert Schaffeld, Graham Saunders, Clare Wallace, Ian Watson, and various members of the University of Edinburgh s English department. The annual young scholars forum of the German Society for Contemporary Theatre and Drama in English offered a much-cherished space for the exchange of ideas, where some strong friendships were forged, and I am thankful to the society for facilitating this exchange. Furthermore, I am grateful to the Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz and the Marie Curie Fellowship foundation, whose generous support in the last stages of this project allowed me to bring the book to completion. vi
Acknowledgements vii Special thanks also go to Paula Kennedy for her enthusiasm and support for this project, and to Sacha Lake for her assistance. I only ever prosper in dialogue with other people, and it is thus the way my arguments have developed: in dialogue with those whose love carried me through this project. My warmest thanks therefore go to: Mark Bolsover, Sharon Deane-Cox, Elysse Meredith, Konstantina Georganta, Mara Goetz, Lisa von Gruenewaldt, Laurence Gustot, Christos Hadjiyannis, Sara Hines, Christin Hoene, Annika Kohlrausch, Claudia Krüger, Stefanie Lehner, Ruth McAdams, Karin Sellberg, Tabea Spiess, Linda Tym, Friede and Lennart Wulf friends and flatmates who had to put up with my ridiculous hours and my increasing absences from their lives; my fellow library inhabitants, who took it upon themselves to check that I did not forget to eat; the stronghold of friends who saw me through it all and specifically through the last few months via an intricate support network spanning several countries; and my patient and supportive colleagues and officemates. My most heartfelt thanks, however, go to my parents Margot and Carsten Boll, who learned early on that I could be easily pacified with books, and who provided a warm environment of tremendously stimulating discussion and political and cultural exchange, and to my Omi, who never, ever wavered.