Fable And Redemption

Tony Kushner is a famous contemporary American Jewish homosexual d-ramatist,as well as a writer with a strong political consciousness.Since being influenced by the German playwright Brecht in early days,he has been keen to create dramas with strong political implications.However,as a playwright of the United States,he also absorbed the characteristics of the local drama a nd fully learned from Tennessee Williams’ lyrical realism.In addition,he also ac-cepted Walter Benjamin’s historical philosophy.He casts all of them into h is own dramatic creation and showing his drama with distinguished features:A wide range of topics,a rich theme and far-reaching implications.The multi-eth-nic composition of the United States constitutes the rich cultural texture of K-ushner’s political drama.The Utopian ideal in Jewish culture further urged hi-m to develop his humanist theatrical conception when he considers the pr ospe-ct of human survival.However,Kushner’s political theatre is not satisfied wit-h sketching the social features with light lines,but revealing many acnes hidd-en under the flashy appearance in the term of fables.The fable connect the hi-story,culture,religion and reality,and also bring modern era’issues to people’-s faces on the dramatic.The fierce and cruel life is the background of the Ku-shner political theatre,but the human choice can often turn in the w orld and indicate salvation.This thesis is divided into three parts:introduction,text and conclusion.First of all,the beginning part of the introduction presents the research s-tatus at home and abord of Kushner’s drama.After summarizing the situatio n of Kushner’s drama study,this article made clear the standpoint of this arti ca-l’s research on the implied fabular meaning of political theatre.In the seco nd part of the introduction I will introduce the concept of political theatre,an d generalize the origin and evolution of political theatre briefly.Then I will an al-yze the formation and development direction of Kushner’s political fabular t heatre through the life experience and situation of the author.The text part will use three representative works of different stages along Kushner’s creative history to illustrate the representation of Kushner’s politica-1 fable in different periods.The first drama "A Bright Room called Day" wa s the first attempt that Kushner try to write a fabular drama on the basis of i-mitating Brecht.The work warning the contemporary by drawing parallels fr-om history and enlightening people’s ignorance.The second work,"Angels in America",revealed the discrimination and persecution of ethnic minorities an-d homosexual groups in American society,including the author himself,becau-se of their "political status".This drama has been fully rooted in the cultural soil of the United States,basing on the fantasy interpretations of God and ma-n that re-constructed the mythology that United States is a "Modern Utopia".As a protestant white man,the protagonist became a true "American prophet"after undergoing a Jewish afflicts.He obtained the blessing from the gods o-n behalf of the human,and the human’s victory in the play fully demonstrate-d the revival of humanistic morality.The third work,"Homebody/Kabul",wa-s written before the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.Kushner fores-aw the tragic consequences of the Middle East war with its prophetic political premonition.Comparing the Home to the country,the author tried to break t-hrough the language barriers and hate rampart between different ethnic group-s through metaphorical explination and poetic imagination,gaining the mutual connection of humanism.The conclusion part summarizes the full text,sorts out and highlights the features of Kushner’s political theatre.His political theatre set politics,philos-ophy and humanism in one,try to break the conservative isolationism with t-he public influence power of the drama,linking lonly individuals and awakeni ng the attention of the audience to the fate of the human community.His pol-itical theatre prompte people to rebuild the world with a positive actions by his passionate humanistic sentiment.The drama of Tony Kushner has already had a certain influence in the a-cademic community in China,and there have also been a number of research works on the political nature of his works.At present,domestic and foreign academics are mostly involved in the study of homosexuality,racial issues,a-nd the intertextuality of works and classical texts of his plays.There is little analysis about the allegory of his works.Therefore,my thesis will use the te-chniques of close reading,comparative analysis,and cultural criticism on the basis of current research foundation to explore Kushner’s representative politic-al theatre one by one.I look forward to the research findings of the fabular area can supply the completness of the research on Kushna’s dramatic works.