Romulus Linney : maverick of the American theater /

Although Linney (b. 1930) is the author of more than 50 plays, his name is less familiar to the general play-going public than such names as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and David Mamet. Despite this lack of popular recognition, many of the most savvy drama critics of the past two decades consider Linney among the most impressive American dramatists in recent history. His writing won him a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Mishima Prize for Fiction (the latter awarded for his novel Jesus Tales, 1980). This authorized critical biography is the first comprehensive study of Linney's life and work to date. Fleming (Texas State Univ.) forged a close association with the playwright as a result of his early research interest in his dramas (the book grew out of the author's master's thesis on Linney), and he has clearly become the most knowledgeable and perceptive Linney scholar in the world. He demonstrates how Linney's stubbornness has impeded his career and limited many productions of his work to venues other than Broadway. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers. R. B. Shuman emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign