American Feminist Playwrights A Critical History

Burke's study examines works intensely feminist in their message - the suffrage plays of the early women's movement, the social protest dramas of the 1920s and 1930s, the plays advocating equal rights from the late 1960s onward - and those whose feminism seems an almost unintentional part of their content. Lillian Hellman, who professed no special interest in women's issues and disdained discussions of herself as a "woman" playwright, nonetheless addressed in her dramas numerous feminist themes, including women's need for financial independence, the treatment of women as possessions, the crippling effects of male dominance, and society's attitudes toward lesbianism. In the latter half of the 20th century a number of feminist playwrights integrated into their dramatic consciousness an awareness of racism.