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1923

1923. By: Elmer Rice (Myth to Science Fiction). Drawing Out Your Emotions. Directions: Observe closely at the paintings in the upcoming slides. You will be given 1-2 minutes to write how each painting makes you feel? What do they remind of?

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1923

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  1. 1923 By: Elmer Rice (Myth to Science Fiction)

  2. Drawing Out Your Emotions • Directions: Observe closely at the paintings in the upcoming slides. You will be given 1-2 minutes to write how each painting makes you feel? What do they remind of? • Take out your writing utensils. • Ready, Set, and GO!

  3. Painting #1 • The night sky filled with swirling clouds, stars ablaze. • Rolling hills of the horizon lies a small town. • Dark structures and curvy lines.

  4. Painting #2 • Red colored sky (symbol) • Wavy lines. • Creature in the front. • Dark background of the hills/roads. • 2 figures in the background.

  5. Painting #3 • Colors: Yellow, Red, and Blue. • Shapes: Circle, half-circle, the angle, straight lines, and curves. • Placement/ organization of shapes.

  6. Tone in the Modernist Period (1900s: Early 20th cent.) • Lonely individual fighting to find peace and comfort in a world that has lost its absolute values and traditions. • Man is nothing except what he makes of himself. • A belief in situational ethics-no absolute values. Decisions are based on the situation one is involved in at the moment. • Mixing of fantasy with nonfiction: blurs lines of reality for readers.

  7. Tone in Modern Literature (continue) • Decline of the “traditional” hero in literature. • Mass destruction made possible by technology. • Attacks on materialism and spiritual emptiness. • Ironic Humor: Contemporary writers look at irony and absurd situations as a cause for subtle humor. • Change of attitude toward the individual and society. View individuals in relation to others rather than as isolated from others.

  8. Elmer Rice (1892-1967)

  9. About the Playwright • Elmer Reizenstein; pen name Elmer Rice • Only child after Lester (younger brother) died. • Second-generation German-Jewish immigrants (poor). • At age 14, quit school to help support the family. • At age 18, obtained equivalency certification for a high school diploma. • Admitted to New York Law School. • Married 3 times and have 5 children in all.

  10. Influenced by George Bernard Shaw: moral didacticism (stage as a platform to promote ideas). At age 22, produced a successful play: “On Trail”—technique “flashback.” Avant-garde style Soon became tireless in freedom of speech and freedom of artistic expression. More About Rice:

  11. Rice’s Styles • His styles includes: • Melodrama • Expressionism • Naturalism • Relatively violent propaganda plays • Street Scene

  12. Concepts in “The Adding Machine” • Expressionist: distort reality for an emotional effect. • Stream-of-consciousness: character's thoughts/ perceptions are presented as occurring in random form, w/o regard for logical sequences, syntactic structure, distinctions between various levels of reality • Avant-garde: new and against tradition. • Anti-hero: main character who lacks traditional heroic qualities. • Technology: mass destruction, even though it may benefit human’s lifestyle.

  13. Questions you might want to ask while reading: • How is “The Adding Machine” considered to be avant-garde? • In what scene includes “stream-of-consciousness”? • What is the significance in each character? • Who is the anti-hero? • What kind of emotions does Rice wants us to experience? • What is Rice trying to tell us about “technology”? • What is Rice’s purpose?

  14. Quiz Time: • At what age did Rice produced “On Trail”? • How did Rice died? • Name the period in which play was written. • Define Expressionism. • What is the purpose of the anti-hero?

  15. The Adding Machine Clip: Scene I • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AuRHxfneXM

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