David Mamet and Male Friendship

Throughout most of history, deep male bonds anchored a man's life. Why, then, are male friendships so impoverished in America today? Mamet's plays and films dramatize the conflicts, contradictions, and covert affection between men. No other American playwright has explored the war zone we call male [...]
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Throughout most of history, deep male bonds anchored a man's life. Why, then, are male friendships so impoverished in America today? Mamet's plays and films dramatize the conflicts, contradictions, and covert affection between men. No other American playwright has explored the war zone we call male friendship with as sharp a scalpel as Mamet's. His work shows both the necessity of and the difficulty in male friendships. Using insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the history of sexuality, Holmberg explores the ambiguity that drives male bonding. Personal interviews with Mamet and with the actors who have interpreted his major roles shed new light on how and why men bond with each other and complement - in an unexpected and unique way - Holmberg's close analysis of Mamet's texts.