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Loading... Summer Braveby William Inge
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. it's so interesting to read what is basically a rewrite of picnic and see what he changed and what he left in. it really highlights what he thought was the strength of the original, and where he either wanted to change the story or tried something different to get his point across. academically, it was super interesting to read them back to back and compare them. i understand (from the paragraph or two he uses to explain it) that he was unhappy with the ending of picnic which was forced upon him as he had to both finish the play quickly for broadway production, and that the director wanted either a happy ending, or at least one that was ambiguous enough to not be overtly sad. inge preferred the clear-cut ruinous ending, which i can appreciate. actually, though, i felt like the ending of picnic wasn't ambiguous. i read it the way he apparently wanted me to - that it was full of disappointment and sadness. (and i remember feeling it was tragic when i saw the production.) but it's more of a personal sadness, one that i expect madge to carry with her, as she arrives in tulsa and hal is either not there or does not take up with her. the ending in summer brave is a more public sadness, as madge has to live in this town with this new reputation that she'll never be able to shake. even rosemary has managed to win the prize of marriage and "escape" but because of one night, madge will be ruined and stuck and it is likely that her family will be, too. (well, millie already won the scholarship to college, so maybe she gets out.) i understand that because madge never leaves in this rendition, that he took out all the references to the train whistle and how it represents a fresh start, a new place, more opportunity. he must have thought that if madge felt that way about the possibility, that she never would have stayed. but it's too bad, i think, because it's actually sadder a story (and more powerful) if she felt that way, but also felt too stuck to be able to leave. but also, it's too bad because i felt like those moments in the play (picnic, that is) were some of the most poignant and it's a shame to have removed them. in general, though, this felt a little tighter. he left in the important scenes (both of rosemary's - when she goes off on hal, showing her insecurity and desperation; and when she pushes howard into marriage, also showing her insecurity and desperation) that really drive home the messaging. but the rest of the play seemed a little more developed. (somehow it's the exact same number of pages, though, when it really feels like there's more happening in this one.) i'm not clear on the title or what he's getting at with it. also at one point he repeats the exact same line (flo asks rosemary if she'll be there for lunch and she says she's going to the hotel for the new teacher gathering; about 2 or 3 pages later flo asks again, and rosemary answers the same. that should have easily been edited.) another difference was that this seemed more obviously written by a man, although except for a couple of quotes i really can't tell why i feel that way. still, this was a fun experience and i really liked reading both plays. i think i probably like the other ending better, but not because it's happy (it isn't) like most people think. because it's about personal pain versus public humiliation. very powerful either way and both are excellent. "A woman's life ... whether she's pretty or not ... never means anything to her till it means something to someone else." men feeling entitled to women's bodies isn't a new thing: "It ain't fair, a gal as good-lookin' as you, not givin' a guy a break. It ain't fair." no reviews | add a review
THE STORY: Again, as in Picnic , the setting is a small town in Kansas, and while the characters are essentially the same as in the earlier play, there are subtleties and differences which give SUMMER BRAVE a distinctive and unique quality of No library descriptions found. |
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those differences feel kind of significant. and then of course there is the different ending.
ugh the sexual repression and double standard of this time is awful. the boys all get to want to sleep with madge and then the second she sleeps with someone, she is completely shamed for it and her worth goes to the gutter.
"It ain't fair, a gal as good-lookin' as you, not given' a guy a break. It ain't fair." the incels of the 50s.
this play, and picnic, too, is terrifically sad. it's what drew me to it in the first place. but the way we are willing, as a society, to throw women's lives away, and to control them, is hitting a little too close to home right now. this is outdated but remains really powerful. and i'm still impressed that a man was writing so poignantly about the way society treats women and poorer people back in the 50's. (4 stars)
from oct 2019:
it's so interesting to read what is basically a rewrite of picnic and see what he changed and what he left in. it really highlights what he thought was the strength of the original, and where he either wanted to change the story or tried something different to get his point across. academically, it was super interesting to read them back to back and compare them.
i understand (from the paragraph or two he uses to explain it) that he was unhappy with the ending of picnic which was forced upon him as he had to both finish the play quickly for broadway production, and that the director wanted either a happy ending, or at least one that was ambiguous enough to not be overtly sad. inge preferred the clear-cut ruinous ending, which i can appreciate.
actually, though, i felt like the ending of picnic wasn't ambiguous. i read it the way he apparently wanted me to - that it was full of disappointment and sadness. (and i remember feeling it was tragic when i saw the production.) but it's more of a personal sadness, one that i expect madge to carry with her, as she arrives in tulsa and hal is either not there or does not take up with her. the ending in summer brave is a more public sadness, as madge has to live in this town with this new reputation that she'll never be able to shake. even rosemary has managed to win the prize of marriage and "escape" but because of one night, madge will be ruined and stuck and it is likely that her family will be, too. (well, millie already won the scholarship to college, so maybe she gets out.)
i understand that because madge never leaves in this rendition, that he took out all the references to the train whistle and how it represents a fresh start, a new place, more opportunity. he must have thought that if madge felt that way about the possibility, that she never would have stayed. but it's too bad, i think, because it's actually sadder a story (and more powerful) if she felt that way, but also felt too stuck to be able to leave. but also, it's too bad because i felt like those moments in the play (picnic, that is) were some of the most poignant and it's a shame to have removed them.
in general, though, this felt a little tighter. he left in the important scenes (both of rosemary's - when she goes off on hal, showing her insecurity and desperation; and when she pushes howard into marriage, also showing her insecurity and desperation) that really drive home the messaging. but the rest of the play seemed a little more developed. (somehow it's the exact same number of pages, though, when it really feels like there's more happening in this one.)
i'm not clear on the title or what he's getting at with it. also at one point he repeats the exact same line (flo asks rosemary if she'll be there for lunch and she says she's going to the hotel for the new teacher gathering; about 2 or 3 pages later flo asks again, and rosemary answers the same. that should have easily been edited.) another difference was that this seemed more obviously written by a man, although except for a couple of quotes i really can't tell why i feel that way.
still, this was a fun experience and i really liked reading both plays. i think i probably like the other ending better, but not because it's happy (it isn't) like most people think. because it's about personal pain versus public humiliation. very powerful either way and both are excellent.
"A woman's life ... whether she's pretty or not ... never means anything to her till it means something to someone else."
men feeling entitled to women's bodies isn't a new thing: "It ain't fair, a gal as good-lookin' as you, not givin' a guy a break. It ain't fair." (4 stars) ( )