Abstract
This paper deals with David Mamet as an icon of American literature. Mamet?s own life, interviews, and especially his play "The Cryptogram", are used to illustrate the paradoxical nature of his work: creative genius on one side, personal anguish on the other. How Mamet?s own past expresses itself in his work is a major concern.

From the Paper
"A paranoid recluse, yet a brilliant social critic, David Mamet has become an icon of modern American literature. He has perplexed readers and audiences worldwide with his quintessential blend of vulgarity, conflict, and keen intellectualism. But if his writing presents a paradox, it is only because his thoughts and the life that has formed them are a paradox. Refusing to grant reporters and interviewers direct access to the details of his abusive and dysfunctional childhood home, elucidating only on the rarest of occasions (Interview 52), his writing is a fountain of conscious and unconscious expression, golden to the psychoanalyst, and at the very least fascinating to the literary eye. Mamet's many ?disguises,? which changed frequently throughout the 1970s and 1980s to reflect the attitudes in his writing (Lahr 70), are just one example of his desire to cloak his inner self from the outside world. The language, themes, and characters in his interviews, autobiographical pieces, and his play, The Cryptogram, make it clear that to uncover the mystery of David Mamet is to make it infinitely more complex. David Mamet is an essential paradox of the conflict of his past and the clarity of his creative vision."

Tags:american, cryptogram, drama, icon, literature, oleanna, play, playwrite, rake

Abstract
This paper discusses, through the review of the plays, "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" and "The Duck Variations", the unique style of David Mamet. It examines how Mamet?s basic approach to creating his own uniquely styled art is to mix seemingly disparate elements, such as tragedy and comedy, high and low culture, sexuality and innocence, life and death, and abstract philosophy and overt social commentary. It also looks at how the basic attempt of his plays is, though ?experimental? theatrical methodologies, to somehow critique the alienation of society and reflect its cracked and porous social structure through a language that is similarly cracked and distorted.

From the Paper
"Mamet, however, does not limit his artistic approach merely to the considerations of language and his formal experimentation with the most fundamental elements of drama hardly stops there at all, indeed, he also experiments with a number of other issues and considerations, not the least of which are the things that he does with both time and space onstage. Indeed, Mamet keeps are attention glued to the stage by constantly changing our relationship to the narrative of the play by jumping around drastically in time and space and offer very little orienting information to tell us when such a leap or a jump has occurred. The point of these fractures of the basic fabric of spacetime, at least in the world of what we, as an audience, see onstage, are multiple and varied."

Tags:sexual, peversity, chicago, duck, variations

Abstract
This paper discusses the play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" by David Mamet, which depicts types of men and women as part of the singles scene in the 1970s in Chicago. The paper describes the plot, the four characters and the stagecraft. In the paper's conclusion, the writer observes that, in the 1970s, this play embodied linguistic drama that has become common today, but it is not very profound and does not break new ground in the way it depicts or understands male-female relationships.

From the Paper
"The men begin and end the play in scenes shaped around the aforementioned macho posturing, with Bernie taking the lead in both cases. However, it is the different pattern seen in Dan that becomes more interesting. Bernie talks one and on about one of his kinkier conquests in the opening scene, while in the last scene, the two men talk lustfully about women they see walking past them along the beach. The progression in the play centers on Dan and Deborah, with Dan being given the most attention as he shows some ability at relating to women."

Tags:battle scenes, rhythms of speech, interactions structure

Abstract
This paper discusses the case for sexual harassment in David Mamet's play, "Oleanna". It explains that it revolves around certain surface portrayals of sexual harassment, which may appear typical of sexual harassment encounters or psychological data on this social problem. The paper continues to clarify that the details of legal and psychological possibilities that define sexual harassment are opposing Mamet's view of what happens in many cases. The author contends that the dialogue is often reactionary and presents very little background to Carol's motivation to see sexual aggression on the part of John.

From the Paper
"The issue of sexual harassment will be analyzed within this literary study of the play: "Oleanna" by David Mamet. In the dialogue that ensues between Carol and John in the play, one can realize some of the gender differentiations that arise when realizing the power of Carol's accusations against John for sexual harassment. The problem of judging what may seem harassment and what is not can be verified through various scholarly articles that define the reality of John and Carol's situation. In essence, Mamet's play Oleanna offers some fictional, but also very real points in regards to sexual harassment and the power struggles between the male and female sexes in today's legal and ethical culture. The play "Oleanna" by David Mamet offers a dramatic view of the ..."

Tags:mamet, oleana, play

Abstract
The paper discusses the Black Arts Movement (BAM) and its effects and then looks at works by David Mamet ("American Buffalo"), Toni Morrison ("Song of Solomon"), and Leslie Silko ("Ceremony").

From the Paper
"The Black Arts Movement (BAM) has been characterized as inherently and overly political in content, an American literary movement with a national reach that advanced social engagement as the focus of its mission. (Salaam) One of the key ideological figures of the early grassroots BAM was Larry Neal, an individual taking a nationalist yet Afrocentrist position, and supporting the Freedom Now Party and calling for the development of a variety of artistic productions featuring authentic black culture within the political context of..."

Tags:Black Arts Movement, David Mamet, Leslie Silko, Toni Morrison, Ceremony, BAM

Abstract
This paper discusses David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross", examining the morality, absence of women, and music.

From the Paper
"In "Glengarry Glen Ross", the morals and values of the salesmen are corrupt. While there is undeniably much corruption in American business, morals and values, in general in this film, the corruption is exaggerated, almost archetypal. Roma expresses this by saying; "The true reserve that I have is the strength that I have of acting each day without fear, according to the dictates of my mind." Roma's statement makes it clear that he answers to no higher power, no higher standard..."

Tags:Glengarry Glen Ross, Mamet, play, film, movie, morals, women, masculine, men, salesmen, real estate

Abstract
A review of David Mamet's "Olenna" and the social problems associated in it.

Tags:mamet, oleanna

Abstract
This paper compares the central themes of the two plays, "The Homecoming" by David Pinter and "Oleanna" by David Mamet, and looks at how the characters of the plays emphasize these themes. The paper specifically examines the themes of male versus female, fantasy, Ruth versus political gender and the relationship of Ruth and Lenny versus that of John and Carol.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Exploring Themes and Characters
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The Homecoming and Oleanna are powerfully moving dramas that act like mirrors, thus portraying both situations and characters that are profoundly relevant to contemporary society. They both, for example, address issues that are current and pertinent within today's society, while enacting such difficulties within settings that are familiar to the majority of people. As such, the plays become personal, reflecting many of the problems that face both men and women in the modern world, while also portraying the way in which all people are influenced by the dictates of a society that is deeply imbedded in concepts that are primarily male."

Tags:society, gender, relationship

Abstract
Analysis of David Mamet's "OLEANNA" and Peter Shaffer's "EQUUS." Compares both as examples of a tragic fall, and as modern man's struggle to find meaning and purpose in present-day society. How their actions and events push leading characters of both plays over the edge; their fall from grace.

From the Paper
"This paper is an examination of two strong figures in contemporary American drama, both professional men who are faced with situations that cause them to question their choices and confront their weaknesses. John, in David Mamet=s Oleanna, is a college professor whose smug superiority is shaken by his encounter with a female student. Martin Dysart, in Peter Shaffer=s Equus, is a child psychiatrist who has already begun to doubt his powers when he takes on the case of a teenaged boy accused of a horrible crime. Both provide interesting examples of a tragic fall as outlined by a master playwright, and the contrasts between these two figures hold a mirror to modern man=s struggle to find meaning and purpose in present-day society.
Oleanna (1992) begins with an exchange between a college professor, John, and one of his students, Carol. He has given her a ..."

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the play "Oleanna," by David Mamet. Specifically, it looks at the most important idea the play, namely that of sexual harassment. The body of this paper explores the plot in the light of this idea. It looks at the plays comments on human nature and investigates the power struggles within the play.

From the Paper
"Many reviewers and critics would say that the most important idea dramatized by the plot of "Oleanna" is sexual harassment. "Ultimately, perhaps the question in Oleanna is not whether sexual harassment has been committed, but exactly who is persecuting whom" (Berardinelli). Even deeper, this play delves into the process of higher education, and whether it provides a real education to today's youth, and Mamet uses the force and power of the English language to get this point across to the audience. So, the most important idea is a blend of all these themes that carry throughout the play, each one builds on the next to create an impossible situation of misunderstanding and power."

Tags:sexual, harassment, plot, human, nature, power, struggle, language, misunderstanding, Carol, John