THE DEVELOPMENT OF .MAXWELL ANDERSON'S DRAMATIC VISION AND FORM

Abstract

Anderson commenced his dramatic career in the 1920's, a time of complete restlessness, uncertainty, and unfaith. His creativity spanned some four decades, ranging from prose realistic plays- some of which bordering on agit-prop- to verse tragedies. In spite of Anderson's rugged versatility, however, some major developmental features of his creativity can be readily distinguished. A period of co­ authorship was followed by a second developmental stage characterized by independent prose plays. Thereafter, Anderson, dissatisfied with prose, turned to history and verse in an attempt to revitalize old forms and renovate tragedy. Having secured success with historical verse tragedies, Anderson turned to writing contemporary verse tragedies, the culmination of his career. It was no pure accident that What Price Glory? achieved unprecedented success, for Anderson's declared opinion that war could have been avoided coincided with his collaborator's experience in the war. The authors of What Price Glory? capitalized on the popular interest in the war. As a result of What Price Glory?'s great success, it was followed by a spade of plays dealing with soldiers and sailors. Thus, Anderson's first successful play established his fame as a talented dramatist and opened new horizons for American drama. In fact, it revolutionized the somnolent commercial theatre of Broadway by handling a grave subject frivolously.