Contradictory Characters: An Interpretation of the Modern Theatre

Winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism

Playwright and critic Albert Bermel examines thirteen modern plays to assess the underpinnings of dramatic conflict. Contradictory Characters inspects the three well-known types of dramatic conflict-between characters, between character and environment, and within the protagonist himself-and argues that the "character-against-himself" is not only a type of conflict, but is indeed the prototypical conflict underlying the others.

"Vigorously written, purposeful and impassioned." --Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic