Sex and Death to the Age 14

by Spalding Gray

Overview

This is a collection of six monologues by the master of one-man drama. Included are "Sex and Death at the Age of 14," "Booze, Cars, and College Girls," "47 Beds," "Nobody Wanted to Sit Behind a Desk," "Travels through New England," and "Terror of Pleasure: The House." Also includes a preface by the author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780394742571
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/12/1986
Edition description:	1st ed
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	992,977
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Spalding Gray was born and raised in Rhode Island. A cofounder of the acclaimed New York City theater company the Wooster Group, he appeared on Broadway and in numerous films, including Roland Joffé’s The Killing Fields, David Byrne’s True Stories, Garry Marshall’s Beaches, and as the subject of the 2010 Steven Soderbergh documentary, And Everything is Going Fine. His monologues include Sex and Death to the Age 14, Swimming to Cambodia, Monster in a Box, Gray’s Anatomy, and It’s a Slippery Slope. He died in 2004.

Editorial Reviews

"Spalding Gray's monologues inspire a reaction rare in theatre: affection. You're aware of the art involved, but most of the time it might be you and he in a bar somewhere, two friends from way, way back."—Los Angeles Times

"In the same way an Ann Beattie story, a Woody Allen movie, or a Bob Dylan song might capture the essential quirks of a group or a generation, a Spalding Gray monologue exemplifies the current Zeitgeist."—Other Stages

From the Publisher

The five stories in this volume developed out of the author's work in avant-garde theater, in which he is renowned for conducting extemporaneous interviews with his audience and delivering monologues about growing up in New England. The provocative title promises to deliver insights about common experiences which, the reader expects, will be refracted through the nimble imagination of the narrator (Spalding Gray himself). However, the stories are not thought-provoking. Incidents are not tied togetherindeed, the abrupt breaks in the narrative are irritatingand the stories themselves are related only in that they recount the narrator's experiences. Finally, the self-absorption of the author is boring and distances the reader from the material. Not recommended. Michael J. Esposito, formerly with Special Libs. Assn., Washington, D.C.

Library Journal