David Mamet, a playwright who won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988), has turned into a Grumpy Old Man. Most of the essays in Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch complain about something: equality, wearing face masks, Higher Education, the Left, etc.
However, within these essays are nuggets of interest. Here’s one: “…the only works I have found helpful in writing drama: Aristotle’s Poetics, Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, Opie’s Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, and, be it what it may, [Bruno Bettelheim’s] The Uses of Enchantment.” (p. 63)
I especially liked Mamet’s analysis of Time Travel stories. Mamet has been an actor, playwright, and director of movies. His analysis of TV shows is also revealing: “The extent of television shows is essential undifferentiated. Not only are all the cop shows interchangeable, they interchangeable with the medical shows. (Swap out the shoot-outs and the ER scenes–the action sequences–and they are all just bad narrative about offscreen characters.)” (p. 158)
My favorite chapter in Recessional is “Humility” where Mamet writes about the authors he loves…and the ones he doesn’t. Here’s a sample: “I am particularly fond of twentieth-century genre writers. They have brought me a great deal of happiness over the decades. I name Frederick Forsyth, Patrick O’Brian, George V. Higgins, and John le Carre. I’ve read all their books many times, because they are infinitely re-readable… I can reread my beloved Trollope’s forty-seven novels again and again…” (p. 174)
If you can put up with Mamet’s crankiness and conservative perspectives, the insights into Broadway, movies, actors, writers, and television are worth the hassle. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 1
The Fountain Pen 5
Cause and Effect 11
Reds, Pinks, and Goo-Goos 17
What’s in a Name 23
Pippa Passes 29
King Kong 33
Some (Mainly) Musical Revelations 37
Two Hangings 41
Various Discoveries 45
Farther Along; or, The Accident Chain 51
On the Passivity of Jews 55
Bruno Bettelheim and the Broke-Down Cowboy: Two American Stories 61
Attention Must Be Paid 67
Experts and Oligarchs 71
Slave Lessons 75
Belinda Raguesto Returns from Switzerland 81
Hamlet and Oedipus Meet the Zombies 89
A Message from Schpershevski 95
Chelm; or, No Arrest for the Wicked 101
Some Linguistic Curiosities 105
The Nazis Got Your Mom 113
Demotic, a Confession 119
Grief and Wisdom 127
Time Travel 133
Moby Dick 139
Real Live 143
Rainy Day Fun for Shut-Ins: Xmas 2020 147
Give My Regrets to Broadway 155
Broadway 159
Gags 167
Humility 173
Max the Hamster 177
Disons le Mot 183
Art, Time, and the Madness of the Old 189
Tug-of-Peace 193
The Awl Through the Ear 197
Goodnight, Irene 203
Recessional 209
Acknowledgments 215
Index 217
