Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - Péter Egri: From the British Grotesque To the American Absurd: the Dramatist's Dilemma

PÉTER EGRI FROM THE BRITISH GROTESQUE TO THE AMERICAN ABSURD: THE DRAMATISTS DILEMMA Edward Albee's reworking (1967) of Giles Cooper's play Everything in the Garden (1962) received diametrically divergent critical interpretations. While it was called "one of the ... most outrageous cop outs in recent theatrical history",

1 it was also referred to as "the first important American play of the season".

2 For Michael E. Rutenberg, the author of a full-length monograph on Albee, "Garden will probably be the most successful of the Albee adaptations ... Albee has added and changed just enough of the structure to warrant the new play's examination."

3 Albee himself at first simply considered the Americanization of Cooper's work as a commercial commission, and did not even wish to have his name put on the theatre bill. But in the course of remodelling the play he caught himself in the act of recomposing, rather than simply adapting, the drama. In his own words, "Something happened, and by the time I was finished with my work there was hardly a word left of the original ... Cooper's play became a catalyst and set me to working my own variations on his theme ... the play ... is not an adaptation of another man's work but a much more intense collaboration."

4 1 Cf. M. E. Rutenberg, Edward Albee: Playwright in Protest {

New York, 1969), p. 172. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. Cf. pp. 180,181, 229. 4 Ibid., p. 171. 25