SAMPLE
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, MLA
STYLE
Alfred Ableman
Dr. T. M. Powell
English 102
February 2, 2004
Annotated
Bibliography
Thesis: Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America uses
elements of postmodernism to
illustrate the impossibility of understanding the future the
characters propose.
Freedman, Jonathan.
“Angels,
Monsters, and Jews: Intersections of Identity in
Kushner’s Angels in America.” PMLA. 113.1
(1998): 90-102. In Freedman’s essay, he
argues
that Kusher perpetuates stereotypes instead of challenging them. Freedman also argues that Kushner’s
attempt
to open up space for more freedom for minorities fails.
Instead, Kushner’s play provokes images
of
assimilation into the dominant culture.
Freedman’s article also deals with the second part of the play,
which I
am not writing about. I will use this
essay to present some views that disagree with my own.
I will then challenge those disagreements as
I make my own argument.
Jameson, Fredric.
“Postmodernism, or The
Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.”
Postmodernism:
A Reader. Ed. James Docherty. NY: Columbia
UP, 1993. 62-92. In Jameson’s
essay, he
defines postmodernism. Jameson describes
and defines posemodernism as “depth . . . replaced
by surface, or by multiple
surfaces” (70),“waning of effect” (72), “pastiche” (73), “historicism”
(74),
“nostalgia” (76), “simulacrum” (76) and
“hyperspace” (80). Hyperspace, in
particular, is a
characteristic
used to explain Jameson’s idea of the “cognitive mapping” (92)
of postmodern “hyperspace” (80).
Postmodern hyperspace is a space that can be navigated, but that is so
different from modernist space
(navigable with symbols, images, similes, etc.),
that it seems to make no sense. We
simply don’t always
come with the right tools to make meaning out of postmodern
hyperspace. I will use this source to
help
explain the chaos that Kushner’s play seems to invoke and why it
invokes
such chaos. Kushner is simply
leading the
reader into postmodern hyperspace.
Kushner, Tony. Angels
in America. The Harper Single Volume American
Literature. Ed. Donald McQuade et al.
Third Edition. NY: Longman, 1999.
2739-2801. Kushner’s play involves two couples and one
evil lawyer. Each
character has a personal conflict that pushes him or her into
the chaos
driving the
play. One main
character, Prior Walter, is weakened by AIDS and
begins seeing
visions of an angel who
proclaims she brings a great message.
As the play
progresses, characters
attempt to make meaning out of the
confusion that
was the 1980s. This
play is my primary source for my paper.
I
will use
examples from this play to
prove my thesis.
- - - .
“In Praise of Contradiction and
Conundrum.” Theater 31.3 (2001)
1-2.
Infotrac.
3 March, 2003. In this short essay, Kushner answers Theater’s
question about art and politics.
Kushner
discusses his own relationship to art and politics.
I will use Kushner’statements about how he
does not always try to leave tidy endings in his plays to help me
discuss the
sometimes confusing structure
in his play and the fact that Angels in
America has no clear resolution at the end.
Quinn, John R. “Corpus Juris Tertium:
Redemptive
Jurisprudence in Angels in
America.” Theatre Journal 48.1 (1996):
1-15. Infotrac. March 3, 2003.
This
essay was
cited by
every other source I looked at. It appears to be one of the
most important
scholarly, critical essays on Angels in America.
In it, Quinn argues that Cohn is
a symbol of
the importance of law in America. By examining Cohn,
major
themes in Angels
in America become apparent. Quinn
also discusses how the many interpretations of various
laws mirrors
the various interpretations of the play. I will use this essay to
demonstrate the
postmodern aspects of the play. |
