Recital of the Dog

Front Cover
Grove Press, 1993 - Fiction - 308 pages
In classic works such as Hurlyburly and Streamers, David Rabe's depictions of violence and the dark side of the human psyche have won him widespread acclaim. In Recital of the Dog, a painter who has left urban chaos for the country soon finds his hopes of tranquillity shattered by a marauding intruder-a dog that torments his small herd of cows. Desperate to restore order to his world, the man shoots the dog, unwittingly unleashing a nightmare on himself. This is a tale of creation and destruction, crime and punishment, rife with insight and black comedy.
 

Contents

II
3
III
15
IV
29
V
42
VI
49
VII
56
VIII
65
IX
77
XVII
148
XVIII
155
XIX
157
XX
169
XXI
174
XXII
189
XXIII
199
XXIV
212

X
89
XI
91
XII
100
XIII
110
XIV
118
XV
127
XVI
136
XXV
231
XXVI
252
XXVII
261
XXVIII
263
XXIX
281
XXX
287
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

References to this book

About the author (1993)

Born in Dubuque, Iowa, Rabe was educated at Loras College and Villanova. His service in Vietnam has had a major influence on his work, particularly in his early plays. In 1971 both The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, which traces a soldier's life from basic training to an ugly and ironic death in Vietnam, and Sticks and Bones, a slightly absurdist play that combines broad satire of U.S. family life with a realistic portrayal of the suffering of a blind veteran, were produced at Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Rabe's other plays of the 1970s were also produced there. Streamers (1976), which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, is the most notable of his Vietnam plays. Set in an army barracks, it is a powerful presentation of the destruction that can result from blind, uncontrolled rage. Hurlyburly (1985), which concerns the hollow lifestyle of a group of hip southern California men, began a long run on Broadway in 1984. As with many of Rabe's other plays, it explores the horrors that can result from distorted ideas of masculinity. Another recent play, Goose and Tomtom (1987), is a forceful drama about two small-time jewel thieves. In it, Rabe explores the theme of the illusory nature of reality.

Bibliographic information