True West

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True West is a drama by the American author Sam Shepard , which premiered on July 10, 1980 at the Magic Theater in San Francisco. The first printed versions of the piece were published in 1981 by Samuel French in New York and Faber & Faber Verlag in London . The play, which saw its first performances at various theaters on the American east and west coast, received its final version after some disagreements between actors, directors and the author in 1982.

The work, which in its opening scenes is characterized by a Pinteresque feeling of threat and a latent atmosphere of violence, thematizes the contradictory, dual nature of human existence in a modern civilization and consumer society against the background of human primal ability or readiness for violence. In addition, it mainly deals with opposing aspects of the American Dream such as freedom, independence or artistic creativity on the one hand and material prosperity and social progress on the other, and problematizes the possibilities and limits in contrasting the associated concepts of happiness and freedom. In addition to dealing with American myths, this includes the loss of nature and the ideals of the old west, the contrast between art and commerce, increasing violence, alcoholism and, in particular, the breakdown of family relationships. Likewise, the work confronts the recipient with the dual nature of humans, their anarchic or destructive character sides under an adapted social surface.

Table of contents

The drama is about the development of two brothers named Lee and Austin who couldn't be more dissimilar in their characteristics. While Austin is a successful screenwriter who is in the middle of life, has a house and a family and can lead a carefree life due to a good financial background, his brother Lee is a petty criminal vagabond who specializes in the thieving trade and thus makes a living denies.

The mother of the two brothers is on vacation in Alaska at the beginning of the drama . She asked her son Austin to look after her rather conservative house and to water her beloved plants. Lee was previously in the desert for 3 months and visited the "old man" (Lee's and Austin's father), who long ago opted for exile and seclusion. He comes to his mother's house to break into the wealthy neighbors' homes. Whether the parents are divorced or just live separately from each other is not clear from the play.

The drama begins with Austin, who is sitting at his notebook and typewriter and working on his project, a script for a period film. He's been working on it for a long time and for this reason has been meeting a producer named Saul Kimmer for months, who pretends to be thoroughly enthusiastic about his project. Lee, who looks drunk through the entire first act, is also present, chatting with Austin. However, both speak rather past each other, there is no real communication. Lee knows how to provoke his brother with derogatory questions, answers and statements; Austin doesn't go into it that much, as he is apparently physically inferior to Lee and is afraid of him. He speaks in a relatively upscale language, whereas Lee uses a rather vulgar, sometimes offensive slang .

Due to the constant provocations and the contradictions between the two brothers, an incessant argument arises, which escalates even further in the course of the play. In order to be able to talk to Saul Kimmer about the business in peace, Austin gives Lee, for whom he is ashamed, his car keys and makes a time with him when he should be back. During the meeting, however, Lee appears prematurely and with a television stolen from the neighborhood in his hands. He involved Saul - initially through skill, later through harassment - in a discussion.

Lee and Saul discover their common love for golf and arrange to meet up for a morning game. Furthermore Lee tries to convince him of his specially made up story. Saul seems disinterested at first, but at Lee's insistence he promises to read the rough plot as soon as Austin has written it down. Austin involuntarily becomes Lee's scribe.

At a golf meeting, Lee finally manages to convince the producer of his story, which is overwhelmed by clichés , and to commit him to production with a bet. Since Lee is not a gifted writer, Austin should put the story on paper. However, he finds the story too simple, downright "stupid", and therefore rejects it. Saul then breaks his deal with Austin and drops his original story.

The protagonists then change in exactly the opposite direction. Austin is now getting drunk all the time and insulting his brother on an unusual low level of language. To prove to Lee that he is also capable of stealing, he now roams the neighborhood himself and steals all the toasters. Lee tries himself as a writer on the typewriter, but can not think clearly and is dependent on Austin as a writer. So the two make an agreement: Austin should prepare and write down Lee's thoughts, Lee should take Austin with him into the desert and show him how to (survive) there, because a life in the desert (at least temporarily) seems to have always been To have been Austin's dream.

As a result, Austin and Lee only have the script in their heads and completely neglect their mother's house and plants, so that the apartment degenerates into a "garbage dump". In the final scene, Lee and Austin are formulating a passage from the story when the mother, who has returned from vacation earlier than expected, shows up. Lee changes his behavior in a flash, is offensive to Austin again and wants to leave the house immediately (and take some silver cutlery and china with him on the side); he says the deal has to be postponed, but it is obvious that he has no intention of keeping his end of the deal at all. Austin gets very angry about this and strangles Lee with the phone cord; the mother seems unimpressed by this, her concern is much more exclusively with her now dead plants. She leaves the house to later spend the night in a motel and then to meet the painter Pablo Picasso, who has long since passed away, during an art exhibition. Finally, Lee is on the ground pretending to be dead, whereupon Austin disconnects the cable and - apparently a bit dazed - tries to speak to his brother. This remains motionless on the ground. As Austin tries to leave the house and approaches the door, Lee suddenly jumps up and blocks the exit. The action on the stage ends at this point: the two brothers stand ready to attack each other. The stage slowly darkens and, according to the stage directions, the howling of a single coyote can be heard in the desert in the distance .

Structure and structure of the drama

The drama is divided into two acts. The first act comprises scenes 1 through 4, the second act the scenes 5 through 9. All 9 scenes take place in the kitchen of the house of Austin's and Lee's mother in a suburb of Los Angeles .

In the exposition , the setting , the two protagonists and the atmosphere are introduced in the first scene . The first tensions can be seen. Scenes 2 to 4 offer an intensification of the plot. ( rising action ): The family background is presented and with the presentation of his film idea, Lee becomes a rival. With the increasing complications, disputes, arguments and provocations between the brothers, the dramatic tension grows: According to Freytag's classic understanding of drama , a kind of catastrophe arises .

In the second act, scenes 5 and 6 lead to the turning point of the play in the 7th scene, in which the brothers' roles are reversed.

The scene 5 can structurally be the first climax ( climax ) or incipient Peripetie be understood: With the appearance of the producer Kimmer and the adoption of Lee's screenplay takes this control and Austin's past success turns. Austin is shocked by his defeat, which means the overturning of his own project for him. The crucial conversation in which Lee wins the producer over takes place between the acts off-stage , so it is not shown on the stage.

Scene 6 shows another climactic or provisionally culminating conversation in which Saul Kimmer and Lee Austin urge to write the script for Lee's story, but Lee initially refuses. Lee no longer has sole control of the plot situation and events, but shares it with Austin.

The real turning point is the 7th scene with the brothers' role reversal: Austin has to cope with his disappointment, takes on Lee's role and defines his new goal, the breakout of his adaptation to society. Lee, on the other hand, tries in vain as a writer. With the growing confrontation between the brothers, the dramatic tension increases again. After a brief retarding moment in the mutual conversation about the miserable situation of their father, the eighth scene shows an increasing plot with a climactic moment at the end of the scene when Lee explains the conditions under which he is ready to take Austin into the desert to take.

The short phase of cooperation, which in turn can be understood as a moment of final suspense , ends with Mom's unexpected return in the 9th scene and initiates the catastrophe at the end of the scene. Austin begins by writing the script for Lee's story; When the mother, horrified by the chaos and devastation, returns to the house, the falling action that now sets in leads to the ultimate catastrophe, without, however, as in the classic drama of the rules leading to a resolution of the conflict or a denouement . The outcome of the play remains open.

Interpretative approach

Duality of human existence and contrasting "Old and New West"

Shepard himself commented on his work as follows: " I wanted to write a play about double nature, [...] I wanted to give a taste of what it feels like to be two-sided " (German for example: "I wanted a To write a piece about the double (human) being, [...] I wanted to give a taste of what it feels like to be split ")

This basic duality or contradiction of the human being is exemplified in the piece and lastingly concretized in the examination of the different contents and motifs of the American Dream .

With the leitmotifs " From rags to riches " and the freedom of the Wild West , it shows the development of two brothers who appear as typical representatives of the respective aspects of the American dream, namely unlimited freedom and independence on the one hand and social advancement and professional success on the other but dream each other's life and envy each other for it.

Other important aspects are related to the location and the environment. The environment is described in detail; the extensive, detailed stage instructions show a realistic setting in a characteristic middle-class kitchen or apartment in a southern California suburb as the location of the action. At a later point, the recipient learns that the mother keeps her middle-class apartment extremely clean and attaches particular importance to ensuring that her plants receive enough water (p. 11/15). In contrast, the green synthetic grass on the floor of the alcove or wall niche (“ green synthetic grass ”, p. 8 and 20) simultaneously suggests the artificiality of the dominant Californian culture and civilization.

In addition, there is a symbolic reference to the chirping of the crickets and the howling of the coyotes that can be heard in the background in the sub-text of the stage instructions in the opening scenes of the play, which is taken up again in numerous places throughout the course of the drama and by the Repetitions is reinforced. As a symbolic allusion to the desert outside the closed space of the actual stage action, this not only shows the constant call of wild nature in the background of the actual stage action, but also creates a constant feeling of threat not only from within, but also from outside.

While the California desert as the embodiment of Old West ( " Old West is linked") with ideas such as freedom, adventure, love of nature, authenticity, masculinity, vitality, but also loneliness, danger, monotony and hardships, life in the modern city Los Angeles (“ New West ”), on the other hand, is associated with moments such as (material) success, modernity, fame, convenience, quality of life or entertainment, but also in a negative sense stands for hectic, stress, environmental pollution, destruction, being trapped and the like. In True West , Shepard depicts the theme of the duality of human nature at the intersection of the Old and New West in the form of the two brothers who basically envy each other for their contrary way of life. As already explained above, the end of the drama ends in their role reversal.

With the conflict between Austin and Lee, Shepard takes up on a fundamental level at the same time the classic motif of the brotherly dispute, which is treated in countless literary works. In allusion to the first fatal fratricidal quarrel depicted in the Old Testament , the work is sometimes seen in the interpretation or criticism of the drama as a modern version or allegory of the biblical story of Cain and Abel .

With Lee and Austin, two fundamentally different characters face each other: Lee stands as an unsuccessful, restless loner outside of society, while Austin has successfully adapted and is integrated into society. Lee, as the intruder, represents the wild and untamed, while Austin represents the protector or keeper of the house and the representative of the social order. In the course of the piece, these very pronounced differences at the beginning disappear and the opposite positions are swapped. The initially extremely self-confident Lee, who does not adhere to any conventions and takes everything for himself, now tries to integrate himself as a writer, while the socially adapted Austin turns into a dropout. After initially hesitating to feel, the clash escalates into a tangible conflict. Austin initially believes that he cannot report Lee's thefts to the police because Lee is his brother. Lee, however, fundamentally questions this reluctance due to family relationships and advises Austin that most acts of violence take place within the family.

Austin initially declares the killing of a person by another as insane and indignantly rejects such behavior for himself: " We're not insane ". At the end of the drama, however, he almost becomes a fratricide himself. Shepard thus also represents on a timeless, universally valid level the fundamental dual nature of humans, who are both capable of creating great things, but also capable of destruction.

This fundamental dual nature of the human being is further emphasized in various performances of True West by the actors changing their roles. H. the actor who plays the role of Lee one night plays the role of Austin the next night and vice versa.

The motive of the principle dualism or the opposition of the action of two different forces is illustrated in particular on the basis of the other motifs, some of which have already been mentioned above, of the opposition between wild nature and orderly society, between art and commerce, between the individual and society or family, between myth (the old west) and reality (the new west) as well as between exit and social adjustment concretized. These opposing lifestyles are represented by Lee and Austin, who take over that of their brother in the course of the play, without however finding their happiness. Neither Austin's idea of ​​a successful life in society nor Lee's dream of leaving the free wild west turn out to be practicable. Both are exposed as illusions in True West .

Initial situation at the beginning

In accordance with the introductory stage directions, the audience is confronted at the beginning of the play with an atmospheric tableau in which the contrast in the outer appearance of the brothers highlights their contradictions. Austin has the characteristic tools or equipment of a journalist or writer (" writing notebook, pen ..., cigarette burning in an ashtray, cup of coffee, typewriter ... stacks of papers ", pp. 11 / 2-4). Obviously, he embodies the conformist who is successful, while Lee apparently represents the typical rebel or drifter (" beer in hand, sixpack on counter ..., mildly drunk ", p. 11 / 5-7). Further details underline this atmosphere in the stage design and in the scenery, such as Austin's nocturnal work in a warm night indicated by the chirping of crickets or the flickering of the candles that cast shadows on the room walls.

While Austin seeks peace and quiet in his mother's apartment to finish his manuscript, he is confronted with his brother's harassing questions and his calm is disturbed. He is becoming increasingly aware that his brother is not only disturbing his own peace and work with his impolite and rude, rude questions, but is threatening him with his increasingly confrontational and aggressive behavior through his mere presence.

Austin initially reacts with barely concealed fear, taking from the remarks of his brother, who apparently only seems to feel contempt for his work, but soon the signs of a feeling of envy, although the latter tries to hide his own needs and feelings of envy in order to position yourself as an equal partner in the situation.

Apparently out of fear of his brother's growing aggressiveness, Austin tries to appease him by changing the subject and directing the conversation to the father, with whom Lee seems to have a closer relationship. Instead of reassuring his brother, Austin only incites his brother's anger with his question about the father.

Shocked by Lee's growing hostility, it becomes clear to him that he has to get his brother to leave the apartment as soon as possible in order not to be exposed to his aggressive behavior and disturbing questions. In response to a cautious question from Austin, however, Lee does not give a specific time for his departure; Austin only retreats with his determination that they are in her mother's apartment, which in turn arouses the envy and jealousy of Lee.

When Austin finally learns the reason for the unexpected arrival of his brother, who, as a kind of western bandit, has chosen the unsuspecting wealthy neighborhood as the target for his planned break-ins, he tries one more time to get rid of his brother by offering him money. In doing so, however, he only provokes an angry, violent reaction from his brother, whose hitherto psychological form of "warfare" against Austin has now escalated and turned into physical violence.

Lee makes it clear to his brother that he is not a mere image of the father who apparently accepted financial support from his successful son during his stay in the "Wild West" of the California desert. From this reaction and remark by Lee it can be inferred that Lee apparently sees his father as a weakling who has destroyed himself through his excessive consumption of alcohol. When Austin tries to de-escalate the tense situation at least temporarily with his question whether Lee would like to go to sleep, his brother just stares at him without giving an answer. The dramatic tension in the opening scene thus reaches its first climax.

The tensions and rivalry in the relationship of the two brothers are expressed mainly in the form of the development of the dialogue, inspired by the dialogue control in the plays Pinter and by the lack of reciprocity or mutuality of the statements as well as in the works of Pinter's a Generates a consistent sense of subliminal threat. Understanding between the brothers must inevitably fail in the initial situation of the piece, as Lee dominates communication on one side through an increasingly monologic language behavior.

At the same time, the special form of dialogue clarifies the different possibilities of conveying meaning, such as through the use of different language registers or changes in volume and intonation or through pauses and silence or facial expressions and the use of non-verbal communication through body language .

The interpersonal tensions between the brothers and their inability to understand and communicate with one another are also made clear by the specific dialogical design. While Less's language behavior is characterized by simple colloquial language, informal pronunciation, grammatical errors and the use of vulgar expressions that reflect his lack of education and create the impression of a rude or rude person, his brother's language behavior is not only through a more neat expression, but also through frequent breaks and emotional outbursts that accentuate the conflict. The linguistic exchange between the two is mostly without any really meaningful substance; both show mostly little or no interest in mutual understanding and hardly try to find adequate answers to the contributions of the other. A topic of conversation is introduced, but immediately dropped; the dialogue is usually superficial, albeit sometimes amusing, and is also determined in various places by guttural sounds like “huh” instead of verbal explanations . At first, Austin tries to ignore his brother by trying to show him that he is busy with his work. Lee responds with hostile sarcasm ; Austin's confusion or distraction from his work is then expressed in certain details of his gestural behavior, such as rubbing his eyes or running his hand through his hair.

Family breakup and domestic breakdown

After the first high point of tension at the end of the opening scene, the second scene begins the next morning with an unexpectedly relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. The previous tensions and conflicts seem to be resting for the time being; the tone of conversation is chatty and, in Lee's contributions, quite humorous. However, the situation gives the appearance of a calm before the storm; in spite of the relaxed atmosphere, there is also a constant feeling of threat from physical violence in the air in the second scene.

Following on from Lee's last remarks on his sleep behavior at the end of the first scene, Lee understands Austin's subsequent statement that he is probably not sleeping ( “Well, you don't sleep anyway, do you?” , P. 20/10) as an undisguised allusion his nightly thieving activities and as a derogatory comment on his lifestyle. He stares at Austin and responds with a reproachful counter-attack on his brother's socially pre-eminent, prominent way of life in order to restore his own threatened supremacy. He alludes to the lack of social and moral or societal independence of his brother and his dependence on social conventions, without the latter contradicting Lee's criticism.

More detailed information about the family history or the family background of the two brothers cannot be found; From Lee's statement that he compares the houses he breaks into with a paradise in which he himself would have liked to have grown up, however, it can be concluded that the two brothers grew up in a less privileged household (p. 22 / 19 ff.) The relationship between the parents also remains unclear. The father now lives somewhere in the desert; in order not to completely abandon his run-down father, Lee himself spent three months in the Mojave Desert . Although he clearly emphasizes to Austin that he is not a mere imitation of her father, he has obviously followed his father, while Austin is ashamed of her father and has done everything to evade the father's influence and avoid his nomadic life. He attended one of the elite Ivy League universities and established himself as a successful Hollywood author. This illustrates his efforts to displace family inheritance in his own life; accordingly, he also fears the end of his career if his brother does not leave his mother's house before the arrival of Hollywood producer Saul Kimmers. Austin would like to hide from this his family origin and relationship with a person like Lee and thus also his father. Lee sees this as a clear devaluation and blatant demonstration of his own inferiority. Although he accepts Austin's rather reluctant offer to use his car for a trip, he returns much earlier than agreed - most likely to meet the producer and embarrass his brother. Austin, in turn, realizes that he cannot deny his family, and confesses to Kimmer that Lee is his brother. He dislikes the relationship between Kimmer and Lee that is developing through their common interest in golf; During the relaxed and sometimes joking conversation between Kimmer and Lee, he remains serious and taciturn. With Kimmer's promise to study Lee's story in more detail, the real fight between the two brothers begins, as Lee now begins to gain control of his brother's life and success so far and threatens his career from then on. He's not even ready to return the car keys, but just stares at his brother with a smile at the end of the second scene, as a kind of challenge.

In the further course of the play the tensions and disputes between the two brothers grow, especially after the role reversal in the 7th scene, up to the finally complete aggressive confrontation with an open outcome at the end of the drama. In True West , which is counted among the family plays , Shepard takes up the problem of the decline of the family in a pointed form, while at the same time processing his own experiences in a literary way. According to him, while one can break the traditional family structure, one cannot escape one's family relationships. This is also clearly evident with Mom's unplanned appearance towards the end of the piece. It can by no means eliminate the chaos and disorder that has arisen and fails to recognize the seriousness of the situation, but causes the brothers to relapse into the behavioral pattern of naughty children, who insure they will repair the damage without this promise being kept in any way.

In True West , Shepard shows a broken, dysfunctional family that lives isolated and widely scattered from one another and in which there are no longer any intra-family ties. For Austin and Lee, the father or old man in particular turns out to be a problem: he left the family a long time ago, now lives in a remote location in the desert and in his shabby existence no longer provides his sons with a positive role model, but always influences anew their thinking and acting. As absent father ( absent father) he is present only in the imagination and memory of the brothers, however, produced in them by the longing for the imagined paradise world of her youth, which is connected to the closest with her father. Lee expresses his aversion and reservations about the civilized artificial world, but experiences the suburbs as a kind of idyll that radiates warmth. The security of the youth is lost, however; he doesn't even manage to get in touch with his father anymore. Even Austin's attempt to reconcile with the father only leads to frustration and disappointment. Regardless of this, despite the negative experiences and the negative image he now offers, the father still remains of great importance: The two brothers fail to cope with the problematic relationship, which is reflected in their respective disorientation or confusion. In this respect, Shepard in True West shows at the same time the difficulties Austin and Lee have in dealing with the family as a basic human experience.

Aggression and violence

In line with what has been said so far, Shepard also pursues the phenomenon of human aggressiveness and readiness to use violence in True West , although he does so by designing his own biographical experiences in literary terms.

Already at the beginning of the drama the aggression in the person of Lee is evidently brought out. Both in his posture and in his language a threatening readiness to use force is recognizable. The willingness to use violence, which is present within, but initially suppressed, becomes more and more evident in the course of the drama, until it finally breaks out openly. In True West , Shepard also shows the escalation process: Verbal aggression ultimately turns into physical violence.

As mentioned above, Lee initially disrupts Austin’s concentration at work and annoys or unsettles him by mockingly questioning his work and lifestyle. Verbal threats follow the first taunts. Lee furiously refuses Austin’s offer to support him financially. The next level of escalation is reached with the physical threats of swinging a golf club against Austin, as set out in the stage directions at the point when Austin expresses the suspicion that Lee forced producer Kimmer to accept his film idea. However, Lee does not carry out the indicated blow against Austin.

If Lee is introduced as a violent person at the beginning, Austin appears initially as a friendly, reserved character. His subsequent transformation is therefore all the more drastic. At first he ignores Lee's ridicule and irony and does not allow himself to be confronted. The fateful development, which in the end almost turns him into a fratricide, only begins when he learns that his own film project has failed.

In his disappointment and frustration at his defeat, he adopts a form of behavior and a way of speaking that resembles Lee's in the opening scenes. In addition, he not only takes on Lee's aggressive behavior, but increases it drastically when he snatches the phone cord and threatens to strangle Lee.

At the end of the drama, the two brothers face each other threateningly; however, the further course remains unclear and is left to the viewer's imagination. The increase in rivalry between the brothers, the increasing aggressiveness and the fatal change in characters are just as obviously reflected in the destruction of Moms apartment. The two siblings let the plants wither and transform the kitchen into a chaotic garbage dump, which the mother no longer recognizes when she returns home: "I don't recognize it at all."

By transforming Austin in particular, Shepard tries to show that basically anyone is capable of acts of violence. Shepard is also aware from his own experience of the role that excessive consumption of alcohol can have on the outbreak of violence. Like his own dad, Lee, Austin, and their dad, too, are addicted to alcohol in True West . In this regard, Shepard's drama also illustrates essential connections between alcohol abuse and the lowering of the inhibition threshold that usually prevents people from doing violence to others.

The myth of the west

Using the example of the father ( old man ), Shepard also shows in True West that the dream of getting out and freedom in the wilderness is an illusion and a fateful wrong path.

The "old man" tries to evade adaptation by leaving the family and looking for freedom and independence in the vastness of the West. In doing so, he breaks with the ideal of striving for material prosperity and success, which is widespread in American society. But he fails in his endeavors: He sinks to the lowest social level, wanders around aimlessly as a beggar and seeks consolation and forgetfulness in drinking alcohol.

The search for the old true west ( True West ), the west of the pioneering days, remains just as unsuccessful for the "old man" as the search for his teeth. In this respect, the comic-tragic episode of the loss of the dentition has a symbolic meaning. The free space ( open space ) of the pioneering days, in which the individual could still develop freely and successfully prove, no longer exists.

Lee, who is closest to his father in his way of life, is forced to return to civilization and commit thefts in order to ensure his survival. Nevertheless, he is drawn out into the desert again and again because he does not succeed in asserting himself in society and he pursues the dream of a free life in the wilderness. He believes that only there is a life in harmony with nature possible, as the ancestors practiced.

When he perceives Austin writing his script by candlelight, the glow of the candlelight awakens in him the longing for the old, ideal world of the border region ( Frontier ).

Lee is divided between his longing for the old, bygone world and the need to survive in modern civilization. In this way he moves torn between two worlds, but does not find his home or his place or purpose anywhere.

Tellingly, Lee reports with enthusiasm to the film producer Saul Kimmer about the western Lonely are the Brave . This film adaptation, based on the novel The brave cowboy by the American writer Edward Abbey , is a parable of the clash of the old west with the modern world. The protagonist of the western, the cowboy Jack Burns, is also unwilling to accept the constraints of modern civilization adapt and compromise to fit into contemporary society. Like Lee, he would like to continue to shape his life autonomously as a lonesome rider according to the old principles and ideals, but no longer finds space in a world that has now completely changed. As a Don Quixote of the 20th century, he is being overwhelmed by modernity.

Unlike Lee, Austin is aware that the old west no longer exists. He thinks Lee's western story is absolutely unrealistic and stupid and refuses to put it on paper for Lee: “ There's no such thing as the West anymore. It's a dead issue! It's dried up [...] . "

When his own script is rejected by Kimmer, he reacts similarly to his brother Lee. He realizes that his dream of material success will not be fulfilled in modern American society. He gets into a crisis of meaning: “ There's nothing real down here, Lee. Least of all me ! "

However, with the idea that he could find a new beginning outside of society in the desert, he takes refuge in a new illusion. His request to Lee to take him into the desert clearly shows that the myth of the American dream has not lost its fascination and continues to seduce people. As Georg Seeßlen writes, the myth is "a method of harmonizing contradictions that cannot be resolved in practice in a dream, imagined, desired way."

The American dream

In True West over another contrast is discussed addition: the contradiction between myth and reality or imagination and reality in relation to the so-called American Dream ( American Dream ). Although this myth is deeply rooted in American society and culture, it consists of many facets that have not yet been precisely defined. Shepard himself expresses this in a slightly exaggerated form as follows: “ I don't know what the American Dream is. I do know that it doesn't work. "

The concept of the American Dream is primarily associated with a glorified idea of ​​freedom or independence in the economic as well as in the social and political area. With the catchphrase “ from rags to riches ” or “from washing dishes to a millionaire”, the dream of unlimited social advancement is summed up: the way to the top is open to everyone if they only show enough initiative and creativity. In political terms, the American Dream represents the dream of democracy, freedom and equal opportunities for all people, regardless of their origin, skin color or religious affiliation (“ freedom and opportunity for all ”).

In the 18th and 19th centuries, at the time of the colonization and conquest of the “Wild” West, America was an open country that waited for the energy and initiative of new settlers or pioneers, and for them the chance for self-realization and personal success at the time of the free land acquisition offered. This gave rise to the myth that dedication, talent, hard work, and effort are richly rewarded. With the propagation of this very myth, millions of immigrants were lured into the country; In reality - especially under the conditions of the capitalist competitive society - this promise of success could no longer be kept for a large part of the people after the end of the free land acquisition.

This - reinforced by the seductive advertising that still exists in the present - promises something that in principle can no longer be kept. The tragic thing about this myth is that it is still suggested to the individual that the dream can be fulfilled. Personal failure, however, is inevitably as well as wrongly attributed to one's own failure. Shepard also shows this in his drama.

Central symbols and reference signs

In True West, the desert, the coyotes and crickets, the houseplants and household appliances in the house as well as the car keys are given a more extensive symbolic meaning as parabolic reference signs.

The desert

The play takes place in a suburb outside of Los Angeles and contains numerous references to the California desert, which seems to have a magical attraction for the protagonists.

The desert embodies the space in which the father retired and which his sons long for. The rough desert forms the positive counterpoint to the corrupt civilization, which is represented by the modern settlements in the greater Los Angeles area. Nature is destroyed here; In addition, Hollywood, with its commercial and profit-oriented film industry and business world, shapes this area of ​​life today. Lee was never able to assert himself in this new reality; Austin also fails here in the end. Therefore, the desert appears as the space in which the pioneers could prove themselves, both Lee and Austin as a place of refuge, although they are actually aware that the desert in its original form as a free west no longer exists. The desert and the disappearance of its originality therefore symbolize the downfall of the American dream and the myth of the Frontier as the borderland, in which all possibilities were open to the pioneers in the past. Various critics also point out that Shepard, who raved about the ideals of the old West and the ideology of the Frontier , was working on his own longing for a lost world in True West .

The crickets adorned and the coyotes howled

In the desert, according to the stage directions, the decorating of the crickets and the howling of the coyotes can be heard throughout the play. In the preceding stage instructions, Shepard expressly refers to the importance of this background noise, which should be treated realistically. Multiple references to crickets and coyotes are also made in the stage directions for the individual scenes.

They definitely play a relevant role for the characters in the play. This is how Lee, who allegedly had experience of life in the desert, feels harassed by them. Austin is also aware of the wild forces of nature that can threaten human civilization. In this context, the noises of crickets and coyotes refer to the call of the wilderness and the temptation to evade the demands of modern society and civilization by moving into this area of ​​supposed freedom and freedom.

Objects and plants in the house

The objects in the mother's house such as the toaster and the television, the typewriter, the houseplants as cultivated nature in the house and the plastic dishes stand in contrast to the wilderness and the myth of the West. Austin's accumulation of a plethora of toasters in the second part of the piece suggests man's desperate hunt for increasing material possessions solely for the sake of possession. H. to an activity without any benefit.

Lee describes the found objects in the mother's house as worthless garbage ( "lota 'junk" ), the only thing that has a false ( "phony" ) value. All of these things break and lose their function because humans do not care for them (the houseplants) or willfully destroy them (the toasters). Together with other characteristic objects or features of the modern throwaway society , they ultimately form a huge mountain of rubbish, which narrows people's lives and symbolizes the chaos of modern civilization and consumer society . In the stage directions for Act II, Scene 9, Shepard describes in a striking way the hopeless situation into which Lee and Austin maneuver themselves in the course of the drama: The rubble and garbage from the previous scene appear in an intense light, the effect of which is a desert garbage dump should equal at full moon.

Car and car keys

The entire play is pervaded by the brothers' continuous argument over the car and the car keys. Austin is the owner of the car, and Lee asks him for the keys to take for a spin around the area. The car as a symbol of modern society stands on the one hand for possession and more or less great material wealth, but at the same time it is also a means of transport that promises greater freedom of movement. In this respect, with the help of the car a liberation from the spatial confinement of life in modern American civilization could also succeed.

From this perspective, the brothers 'ongoing struggle for the car, which, so to speak, represents today's cowboy's horse, represents the two siblings' mutual struggle for mobility and freedom. The car, however, symbolically plays a fatal role in the clash of modern civilization and society with the old west. The Western Lonely are the Brave , so much admired by Lee , in which the old mythical world of the West meets the contemporary world, ends with the death of the hero on his horse when he is run over by a truck while trying to escape from contemporary society. In this way, progress, like a parable, destroys the traditional and appears in a dubious light.

Comedy and tragedy

Many critics and literary scholars attribute True West to the sub-genre of dark comedy because, despite its serious, tragic background, it also contains a multitude of comical and sometimes grotesque elements that create a kind of comic relief , i.e. H. Shepard provides the theater audience with a brief relaxation or a kind of breather in order to make them receptive to the further course of the tragic events.

This comic effect is achieved in True West through both linguistic comedy and situational comedy .

A concise example of word comedy is u. a. the scene in which Lee and Austin try to create a dialogue in Lee's script for his film project. Lee does not like a sentence that one of the characters in his western is supposed to utter: “ I know this prairie like the back a 'my hand. “Austin is dissatisfied with this formulation and is looking for an alternative. Finally, he suggests the following sentence: “ I'm on intimate terms with this prairie. "

However, this formulation, on which the two then agree, is completely inappropriate, since a grandiose phrase such as to be on intimate terms would hardly be used or mastered by simple cowboys and thus seems ridiculous.

Comedy through language can also be found in numerous other passages of the piece, for example when Austin comments on his thefts of toasters and states: “ There's gonna 'be a general lack of toast in the neighborhood this morning. Many, many unhappy, bewildered breakfast faces. "

Likewise, Lee's completely naive reaction to a question from Austin, to which Austin does not expect an answer at all, has a strange effect. Austin's rhetorical question : “ You know how many guys spend their whole lives down here to break into this business? “Actually serves to show Lee how extremely difficult it is to survive in the tough competition of the Hollywood film industry. Lee, however, replies very naively: “ I got no idea. How many? ” And thus mitigates the originally serious statement of Austin.

In the last part of the drama, Mom's words create a bitterly comical effect in the face of the violent argument between her sons. In view of their complete misunderstanding of the seriousness of the situation, their admonitions to behave well are not only completely inappropriate and ridiculous, but also create a grotesque effect through the associated mixture of tragedy and comedy.

Reception and performance history

True West is currently one of Shepard's most performed plays and has a permanent place in contemporary American theater literature.

The first performance of the work took place on July 11, 1980 at the Magic Theater in San Francisco, where Shepard was active at the time as a dramaturge ( resident playwright ). Shepard wasn't happy with the performance, however; there were also quarrels with actors and the director. Another performance that same year in New York was also unsatisfactory. The work was not finalized until 1982 by the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago. The director took Gary Sinise , who is also the role of Austin took over. The then little-known John Malkovich played Lee. This performance was enthusiastically received and is still regarded as an exemplary stage version of the drama.

The celebrated success in Chicago was followed by a production at the Cherry Lane Theater, one of the oldest off-Broadway theaters in New York. The piece was played there on 762 evenings.

On March 2, 2000, the play was first performed by a revival at the Circle in The Square Theater on Broadway's main stage and was a triumphant success thanks to the outstanding acting performances of Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly . In this production, the two actors took turns in the roles of Austin and Lee after three evenings and took on the other role in order to make it clear that these two characters in True West show the human dual nature or duality.

The roles of the two brothers in True West have since been taken on by numerous well-known American actors, such as James Belushi , Bruce Willis , Erik Estrada , Gary Cole or Dennis and Randy Quaid .

The first performance in England took place in 1981, directed by John Schlesinger, with the young Bob Hoskins in the role of Lee. In contrast to the American performances of the work, where the audience reacted with growing enthusiasm, the British theater audience was rather restrained in its reaction to the world premiere of True West . The professional British theater critics of the time judged the play rather negatively and reacted largely with pissed off . Michael Billington , for example , the renowned critic of the Guardian , who had thoroughly praised Shepard's previous plays, considered the drama to be superficial and too schematic: “ Here [in True West] the background is too sketchy to make the descent into the abyss dramatic. There simply aren't enough layers around to be stripped. "

This initially negative assessment by British theater critics has changed considerably since then; subsequent reviews of later performances were mostly positive. The same Michael Billington, on the occasion of a performance of Shepard's The Late Henry Moss in 2006, indirectly praised the complex narrative technique and metaphorical significance of the family constellation depicted in True West for the lies, excuses and refusal of American society to deal with unpleasant, disgusting truths: “You could say that Shepard is recycling familiar themes. The sibling rivalry of Earl and Ray recalls True West. And the idea of ​​family life as a tissue of sadistic secrets evokes Buried Child. But what gives this play its special texture is its complex narrative technique. [...] For Shepard the family is a metaphor for America itself: a society that survives on lies, evasions and refusal to face unpalatable truths. ” In a recent review of a new performance of True West in May 2010 in Sheffield with Nigel Harman as Austin and John Light as Lee, Billington also praised the piece's mythical qualities ("mythic play").

The well-known British theater critic Lyn Gardner also praised a new performance of True West at the Tricycle Theater in London in September 2014 as an extremely successful, often comic re-performance (" searingly good - and often very funny - revival ") of Shepard's classic drama from the 1980s, which is about much more than the civility between two siblings.

In Germany, the premiere of True West took place on March 15, 1985 in the Erlangen Theater. As in Great Britain, the initial criticism was initially unflattering. For example, in an early review of the Spiegel of Shepard's dramatic work on April 14, 1986: "The" recognized classic of American modernism ", as the critic Martin Esslin called it, only writes about things he knows. Therefore, despite the mystical expanse of the desert omnipresent in his pieces, his horizon is limited: the banality of the dialogues suggests a hidden dimension. For the myths that he quotes so tellingly, Shepard plundered trivial plots - such as western stories, science fiction, adventure romances, action and thriller literature. "Shepard set a" barren stage [...] hefty signals ”, from which he makes“ dull symbols ”. In his "theatrical broadcast [...] of broken, uprooted, tragic America", Shepard laments "piece by piece [...] its lost innocence, accompanied by the fierce desire to restore this innocence." His morbid cosmos is mainly populated by "broken families", "to whom dark myths cling". “Eroticism, humor or irony” is alien to them.

In the further history of the reception of the work, however, the early criticism has given way to a predominantly positive appraisal of the work in Germany as well. For example, in its obituary for Sam Shepard on July 31, 2017, Der Spiegel emphasized that Shepard, as a playwright, had succeeded in relentlessly exposing the predetermined breaking points of the American dream. With his "dysfunctional family constellation - which let autobiographical aspects shine through" and with his wistful evocation of the lost West and the swan song for private and public hero images , Shepard's dramatic work has found its way into the canon of American literature . With the often cited True West , Shepard continued "his series of celebrated family tragedies".

The respected literary critic Martin Becker also counts True West among Shepard's great plays, in which the playwright Shepard shows “the power of the American Dream and the search for great happiness” by linking past and present, but also makes it clear “like that The downsides, namely violence and the [sic!] Desolation, continue to affect the present, although they are suppressed. "

The play was also in a co-production of the Théâtre National du Luxembourg , the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen and the Renaissance-Theater Berlin in 2008 a. a. Performed by Oktay Özdemir (Lee) and Eralp Uzun (Austin). The two actors of Turkish origin try to present current references to life in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

Film adaptations

On January 31, 1984, a 110-minute television film was released as a recording of a performance of Shepard's play directed by Allan A. Goldstein with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise in the lead roles of the brothers Lee and Austin.

On August 12, 2002, a 107-minute television version based on Shepard's work, directed by Gary Halvorson, with Bruce Willis as Lee and Chad Smith as Austin was broadcast for the first time.

Text output (selection)

  • Sam Shepard: True West . Faber and Faber, London 1981.
  • Sam Shepard: Seven Plays (Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, True West). Dial Press Trade Paperback, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0553-34611-4 .
  • Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1988, ISBN 978-3425-04840-6 .
  • Sam Shepard: True West. Cornelsen, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3060311866 .

Secondary literature (selection)

  • William Klep: Sam Shepard's True West. In: Theater , Yale , 12 (Fall / Winter 1980), pp. 65-7, reprinted in Bonnie Marranca (Ed.): American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard. PAJ Publications, New York 2001, ISBN 978-09338-2613-7 .
  • Albert Glaap: “America's New West - Dreamspace and Reality”. On Sam Shepard's drama True West. In: Lothar Bredella (ed.): The USA in research and teaching. Kamp Verlag, Bochum 1984, ISBN 9783-59236318-0 , pp. 202-211.
  • Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 .
  • Tucker Orbison: Mythic Levels in Shepard's True West. In: Modern Drama , Downsview, ON, Canada (MD). December 27, 1984, p. 506-519.
  • Michael Krekel: "From Cowboys to True West": Sam Shepard's Drama: Documents of an American Fantasy. Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University ... Universitaires Européennes, Volume 25, Peter Lang Verlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 978-3820-491470 .
  • David M. Galens (Ed.): A Study Guide for Sam Shepard's "True West". Gale Research, Study Guides: Drama for Students , Volume 3, Detroit 2017, ISBN 978-13753-9529-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 6.
  2. ↑ See Arthur Kutsch: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , p. 3. See also Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, teaching model , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-14-041210-X , S. 9. Cf. also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 6f. and 39-50.
  3. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 61, line 19: "A single coyote [is] heard in the distance."
  4. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 28. Cf. also Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, teaching model , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3- 14-041210-X , pp. 44-47.
  5. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 28. Cf. also Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, teaching model , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3- 14-041210-X , pp. 44-47.
  6. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 28. Cf. also Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, teaching model , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3- 14-041210-X , pp. 44-47.
  7. ↑ See the review by Pat Launer: Review on the True West-production, Sledgehammer Theater, San Diego, June 1999. Printed a. a. in: Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, teaching model , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-14-041210-X , pp. 48–50, here p. 48. The following is used as the source Website of the University of Bremen indicated: https://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/anglistik/kerkhof/ContempDrama/Shepard.htm . The full Shepard quote can also be found online on his True West page under Shepard's 'West' Revived and Restored , accessed June 23, 2018, and on the University of Virginia page : Portrait of the Artist: Sam Shepard and the Anxiety of Identity under True West, False West .
  8. ↑ See the review by Leah D. Frank: THEATER; CAIN AND ABEL IN CALIFORNIA . In: The New York Times , May 3, 1987, p. 11. Retrieved August 13, 2018. It says: “ Sam Shepard manages to weave various levels of society into the script. We can watch True West and see two combative brothers, one the mama's boy, one the scoundrel father's son that is certainly there as a given in the script. We can also blink and see one man warring with his subconscious, or we can see metaphors for the cultural differences between Eastern and Western sections of this country. “See also Arthur Kutsch: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , p. 8.
  9. ↑ See Arthur Kutsch: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , p. 8. The text passages given are cited in this part of the explanations from the following edition of the work : Sam Shepard: True West. Cornelsen, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3060311866 .
  10. ↑ Cf. Arthur Kutsch: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , p. 5. See also the explanations below on the symbolism of the work in more detail.
  11. ^ Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, teaching model , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-14-041210-X , p. 20. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West . Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 42ff.
  12. ↑ See, for example, the review by Leah D. Frank: THEATER; CAIN AND ABEL IN CALIFORNIA . In: The New York Times , May 3, 1987, p. 11. Retrieved August 13, 2018. See also Jochen Schmidt: Cain and Abel in Southern California. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 7, 1982. See also Jeffrey D. Hoeper: Cain, Cannaanites, and Philistines in Sam Shepard's True West. In: Modern Drama , Vol. 36, no.1, March 1993, pp. 76-82. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 41 f.
  13. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 26, line 4 and p. 26, line 5 ff. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 42 f.
  14. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 42 f. and Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 26, line 14.
  15. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag , Hallbergmoos 2008, ISBN 978-3-86668-034-0 , p. 43 f.
  16. ↑ On the analysis so far in more detail, see Arthur Kutsch: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , pp. 6-7. The specified text passages are quoted in this part of the explanations from the following edition of the work: Sam Shepard: True West. Cornelsen, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3060311866 .
  17. ↑ See Arthur Kutsch: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , pp. 6-7. On the use of language in True West as a means of indirect characterization, see also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 31f.
  18. ↑ See Arthur Kutsch for more details on the analysis: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , p. 9. The text passage given is used in this part of the explanations the following edition of the work cited: Sam Shepard: True West. Cornelsen, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3060311866 .
  19. ↑ See Arthur Kutsch for more details on the analysis: Sam Shephard True West, Teacher's Manual , Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-06-031187-3 , p. 9 f. The specified text passage is quoted in this part of the explanations from the following edition of the work: Sam Shepard: True West. Cornelsen, Berlin 2005, ISBN 978-3060311866 .
  20. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 14, line 24: “ Like a paradise. [...] Warm yellow lights [...] "
  21. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 41, line 36.
  22. ↑ Cf. to this interpretation approach so far the interpretation of Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, pp. 39-41. For the importance of the dysfunctional family constellation in Shepard's dramatic work, see the obituary by David Kleingers: On the Death of Sam Shepard - The All-American Avant-gardist. In: Der Spiegel , July 31, 2017. Accessed August 12, 2018.
  23. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 9, line 2; P. 11, line 33; P. 32, line 35 as well as ZS. 33, line 1. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 44 f.
  24. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 61, line 2. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 45 f.
  25. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 46 f.
  26. ↑ See for this interpretation as far as Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 47f. Cf. also the key passage in Sam Shepard's text: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 8, line 21: “ Isn't that what the old guys did? [...] The Forefathers. You know [...] Candlelight burning into the night? Cabins in the wilderness? ".
  27. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 48.
  28. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 38, line 1. Cf. also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 48.
  29. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 50, line 25. Cf. also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 48.
  30. ↑ See Georg Seeßlen: Western. History and Mythology of Western Films. , Schüren Verlag , Marburg 1995, ISBN 3-8947-2421-8 , p. 21 .; Quoted from Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 48 f.
  31. ↑ Cf. Matthew Roudané: Shepard on Shepard: an interview. In: Matthew Roudané (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Shepard. Cambridge University Press 2002, ISBN 978-05217-7766-7 , p. 68. Quoted from Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 49.
  32. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 49f.
  33. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 34.
  34. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 35 f.
  35. ↑ See as key passages in the work to which reference is made here, Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 12, line 19, as well as p. 51, line 31 ff. For the interpretation, see Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 36 f.
  36. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 37.
  37. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p.52, line 19, and p. 53, line 6. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 32 f.
  38. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 45, line 5. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 33.
  39. ↑ See Sam Shepard: True West. Diesterweg Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, p. 30, line 15, and p. 45, line 18. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 33.
  40. ↑ Cf. Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 33 f.
  41. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 69. See also True West: July 05 - August 19, 2019 on the Steppenwolf Theater Company website. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  42. ↑ See Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 69 f. See also the review by Verena Lueken: Intelligence makes you sensual. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , April 19, 2000, No. 93, p. 49.
  43. ↑ See Sam Shepard's True West on BBC World Service December 15, 1981. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  44. ↑ Cf. Rainer Jacob: Interpretations English - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 70. The excerpt from Michael Billingtons review of True West in Guardiam of December 11, 1981 is cited from this source.
  45. ↑ See the review by Michael Billington: The Late Henry Moss. In: The Guardian, January 20, 2006. Retrieved on August 12, 2018. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 70.
  46. ↑ See the review by Michael Billington: True West - Crucible, Sheffield. In: The Guardian, May 19, 2010. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  47. ↑ See Lyn Gardner: True West review - sibling rivalry erupts like a volcano. . In: The Guardian , September 11, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  48. ↑ See Culture Cowboy in All Saddles . In: Der Spiegel , April 14, 1986. Retrieved on August 12, 2018. See also Rainer Jacob: Interpretations Englisch - Sam Shepard: True West. Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos 2008, p. 70 f.
  49. ↑ See David Kleingers: To the death of Sam Shepard - The All-American Avantgardist. In: Der Spiegel , July 31, 2017. Accessed August 12, 2018.
  50. ↑ See Martin Becker: Modern Cowboys. On: Literaturkritik.de. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  51. ↑ See Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, Lehrsmodell , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-14-041210-X , p. 64. See also the information in the Internet Movie Database True West - A videotaped stage performance of Sam Shepard's play , accessed June 21, 2018.
  52. ↑ See Wiltrud Frenken, Angela Luz and Brigitte Prischtt: Sam Shepard - True West, Lehrsmodell , Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-14-041210-X , p. 64. See also the information in the Internet Movie Database True West (2002) , accessed June 21, 2018.