SHANNON BLAKE SKELTON
u003cpu003eHailed by critics during the 1980s as the decade's 'Great American Playwright', Sam Shepard continued to produce work in a wide array of media including short prose, films, plays, performances and screenplays until his death in 2017. Like Samuel Beckett and Tennessee Williams in their autumnal years, Shepard relentlessly pressed the potentialities and possibilities of theatre. This is the first volume to consider Shepard's later work and career in detail and ranges across his work produced since the late 1980s.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eShepard's motion picture directorial debut u003ciu003eFar Northu003c/iu003e (1988) served as the beginning of a new cycle of work. He returned to the stage with the politically engaged u003ciu003eStates of Shocku003c/iu003e (1991) which resembled neither his earlier plays nor his family cycle. With bothu003ciu003e Far North u003c/iu003eand u003ciu003eStates of Shocku003c/iu003e, Shepard signaled a transition into a phase in which he would experiment in form, subject and media for the next two decades. Skelton's comprehensive study includes consideration of his work in films such as u003ciu003eHamletu003c/iu003e (2000), u003ciu003eBlack Hawk Downu003c/iu003e (2001), u003ciu003eThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordu003c/iu003e (2007) and u003ciu003eBrothers u003c/iu003e(2009); issues of authenticity in the film and screenplay u003ciu003eDon't Come Knockingu003c/iu003e (2005) and the play u003ciu003eKicking a Dead Horseu003c/iu003e (2007); of memory and trauma in u003ciu003eSimpaticou003c/iu003e, u003ciu003eThe Late Henry Mossu003c/iu003e and u003ciu003eWhen the World was Greenu003c/iu003e, and of masculine and conservative narratives in u003ciu003eStates of Shocku003c/iu003e and u003ciu003eThe God of Hellu003c/iu003e.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eLauded by critics in his lifetime and since his death in July 2017 as 'one of the most important and influential writers of his generation' (u003ciu003eNY Timesu003c/iu003e), Shepard 'excelled as an actor, screenwriter, playwright and director' (u003ciu003eGuardianu003c/iu003e); this is a timely and important assessment of his work spanning the last three decades of his life.u003c/pu003e
