March 12: Remembering Two Esteemed Writers
Two esteemed writers were born on this date, March 12: Playwright Edward Albee wrote “The Zoo Story,” “The Sandbox,” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”; Novelist and poet Jack Kerouac wrote “On the Road” and “Big Sur.” Take a moment to explore their words.
Edward Albee, playwright (March 12, 1928–September 16, 2016)
“With the possible exception of the little play ‘The Sandbox,’ which takes thirteen minutes to perform, I don’t think anything I’ve done has worked out to perfection.” —Edward Albee
Flanagan, William. “Edward Albee, The Art of Theater No. 4.” The Paris Review, Fall 1966, https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4350/the-art-of-theater-no-4-edward-albee.
“Every writer’s got to pay some attention, I suppose, to what his critics say because theirs is a reflection of what the audience feels about his work. And a playwright, especially a playwright whose work deals very directly with an audience, perhaps he should pay some attention to the nature of the audience response—not necessarily to learn anything about his craft, but as often as not merely to find out about the temper of the time, what is being tolerated, what is being permitted.” —Edward Albee
Flanagan, William. “Edward Albee, The Art of Theater No. 4.” The Paris Review, Fall 1966, https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4350/the-art-of-theater-no-4-edward-albee.
“Actually, the final evaluation of a play has nothing to do with immediate audience or critical response. The playwright, along with any writer, composer, painter in this society, has got to have a terribly private view of his own value, of his own work.” —Edward Albee
Flanagan, William. “Edward Albee, The Art of Theater No. 4.” The Paris Review, Fall 1966, https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4350/the-art-of-theater-no-4-edward-albee.
Jack Kerouac, novelist and poet (March 12, 1922–October 21, 1969)
“The Communist Party jumped on my movement, they wanted a youth movement to use.” —Jack Kerouac
Times Staff Writer. “Jack Kerouac’s last interview? Jack Kerouac is on the road no more.” Tampa Bay Times, March 20, 2013, https://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/jack-kerouac-is-on-the-road-no-more/2109689/.
“I’m not a beatnik. I’m a Catholic.” —Jack Kerouac
Times Staff Writer. “Jack Kerouac’s last interview? Jack Kerouac is on the road no more.” Tampa Bay Times, March 20, 2013, https://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/jack-kerouac-is-on-the-road-no-more/2109689/.
“My story is endless. I put in a teletype roll, you know, you know what they are, you have them in newspapers, and run it through there and fix the margins and just go, go – just go, go, go.” —Jack Kerouac
Times Staff Writer. “Jack Kerouac’s last interview? Jack Kerouac is on the road no more.” Tampa Bay Times, March 20, 2013, https://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/jack-kerouac-is-on-the-road-no-more/2109689/.
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