A Study Of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross From The Perspective Of New Historicism

David Mamet (1947-) is commonly regarded as one of the best and most famous American contemporary playwrights and screenwriters. He endeavors to depict, through his drama, the human relationships in the postmodern American society and tries his best to explore the relationship between "the American ethic of business" and the ways in which such a problematic ethos affects the individuals. Taking the related theories of New Historicism as a base, this thesis reads closely Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, which won him Pulitzer Prize in 1984, trying to explore the relations among different individuals and classes in the play, and to disclose the relationship between the play and its historical context, with a view to opening a new perspective on Mamet criticism.The first part of the present thesis makes a brief introduction to Mamet’s life and conducts a review of the foreign and domestic studies done so far on Mamet’s works. The second part critically overviews the emergence, evolvement and major concepts of New Historicism. The third part concentrates on three aspects. In the first place, taking New Historicist concept that the environment has influences on the formation of the marginalized groups and the voices of the marginalized groups should be heard, as a theoretical framework, the thesis analyzes the phenomenon that the lower-middle class of business-centered contemporary American society, which is represented by the salesmen in the play, is marginalized under the pressure of capitalism and extreme individualism. In the second place, the author engages Foucauldian power and discourse theory to explore the exercises of power between people in the play, and provides a general view of the change of power relation among individuals and classes in the contemporary American society. Last but not least, by applying the theory:"historicity of text and textuality of history", the present study hopes to reveal the influences of historical context on the play, and dissects the relationship between the political and economic situations in America in the 1970s and the 1980s.Based on the above analysis, the thesis finally concludes that Glengarry Glen Ross is the product of the specific historical context. It vividly and truly portrays the living conditions of those marginalized group from the middle and lower class society in the capitalist country, and reveals a fact that power is everywhere. The author holds that the performance of Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross will surely push forward the development of both American society and its drama, and at the same time provides the audience with a new better understanding of the country, its history and people.