An apologia pro opera sua: Sam Shepard vs the feminine or how a "a fool for love" meets "the silent tongue(s)" and finds it all to be a huge "lie of the mind"

Abstract

Drama is not a favourite genre among American critics and it has been so for decades. Misogyny (or what might appear similar to it) has also grown out of fashion, hopefully for good. The combination of the two makes it all the more difficult for an author to “fare well” among the critics. My paper tries to highlight the fact that Sam Shepard, although often perceived as a misogynist for the treatment of his female characters both by his “men” and himself is not (as much) “guilty as charged”. The point I am trying to make is that the playwright did not (always) ignore his female characters and leave them voiceless because it pleased him to do so. He did it because what he understood best about the human condition was male anxiety and neurosis. A Lie of the Mind is his, albeit failed, attempt at understanding the female side and even incorporating it. What the play offers as a conclusion is that love seems to be a mission that is impossible for the strong and the healthy. It tries to persuade the reader (and this attitude can frequently be found explicit ly in his plays) that love is a(n) unnatural condition, an illness of a sort. Love is a survival mode for the weak. The strong do not need it . On this not very encouraging note the p lay end s, as do all Shepard's further attempts at dealing with women characters in a way different from his usual.

Keywords

• drama
• America
• Sam Shepard
• women