Essays

Wallace Shawn is an Obie Award–winning playwright and a noted stage and screen actor. His plays The Designated Mourner and The Fever have recently been produced as films, and his translation of Threepenny Opera was recently performed on Broadway. He is co-author of My Dinner with Andre and the author of The Fever, Aunt Dan and Lemon, and Grasses of a Thousand Colors, among other works.

• CONTENTS Introduction 9 PART ONE: REALITY ONE The Quest for Superiority 19 TWO After the Destruction of the 29 World Trade Center THREE “Morality” 33 FOUR An “American” Publishes a Magazine 49 FIVE Patriotism 53 SIX Interview with Noam Chomsky 55 SEVEN Bush Proposes Preemptive War 71 EIGHT The Invasion of Iraq Is Moments Away 75 NINE Up to Our Necks in War 85 TEN Israel Attacks Gaza 95 PART TWO: DREAM-WORLD ELEVEN Myself and How I Got into the Theatre 101 TWELVE Reading Plays 117 THIRTEEN Aesthetic Preferences 121 FOURTEEN Interview with Mark Strand 129 FIFTEEN Writing about Sex 155