Discourses of the I: The Panic of Identity in Edward Albee’s Me, Myself and I
Discourses of the I: The Panic of Identity in Edward Albee’s Me, Myself and I
Author(s): Boróka Prohászka-RádSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: Albee; Me, Myself and I; subjectivity; metatheater
Summary/Abstract: “Hello, there! My name is OTTO. [...] I want to make trouble because I want to make things even more complicated than they are around here, and then maybe I can get out of this whole mess – this family and everything. Let’s see: my name is OTTO. I have an identical twin brother. I’m trying to get rid of him, rid of all of them – but it’s not easy: you know how twins are; well, maybe you don’t” – OTTO, one of the identical twin brothers (both named Otto) of Edward Albee’s Me, Myself and I opens the play addressing the audience. Albee’s wit and sharp irony dominate the play, managing to “engage, to upset, to trouble” audiences and readers. In my paper I analyze the methods Albee employs in transforming the stage into a meta- and intertextual “space” subverting and undermining any belief in identity and language as fixed, stable and functional “entities.”
Journal: Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica
- Issue Year: 8/2016
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 29-39
- Page Count: 11
- Language: English