The Plays of Margaret Drabble

As in her novels, Drabble is revealed in the plays as an acute observer of the changing mores and intractable presumptions that mark British life, but also as a consummate artist, adept at adjusting her vision–and tuning her ear–to the demands of a different medium. With the fascinating critical commentary here by Fernandez et al., this volume will prove essential for any study of Drabble and of the role of women and the fate of the middle class in post-war Britain.– “Michael Coffey, former co-editorial director, Publishers Weekly”As meticulous as Jane Austen, and as deadly as Evelyn Waugh– “Los Angeles Times”Even after several decades of close investigation, the role played by women writers in the theatre and television of the 1960s remains frustratingly hidden. This timely book, gathering together two previously unavailable plays by one of the most significant female novelists of the late twentieth century, helps to fill the gap.–David Pattie “University of Birmingham”Gorgeous writing … [Drabble’s] flawed and oh-so human characters appall and enthrall.– “Boston Globe”

Margaret Drabble is the author of The Dark Flood Rises, The Seven Sisters, The Peppered Moth, and The Needle’s Eye, among other novels. For her contributions to contemporary English literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2008.José Francisco Fernández is a lecturer at the University of Almería in Spain. He is the editor of a collection of short stories by Margaret Drabble, A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: Complete Short Stories.