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Full-Text Articles in American Studies
State Killing, The Stage Of Innocence, And The Exonerated, Katy Ryan
State Killing, The Stage Of Innocence, And The Exonerated, Katy Ryan
Katy Ryan
This essay considers the innocence argument and sentimentality in Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s The Exonerated (2003), a documentary play based on interviews with people sentenced to die for crimes they had not committed. The play’s composition, performance, and reception reveal the challenges of art committed to social reform and confirm the difficulty in assessing the political function or, in Fredric Jameson’s sense, the political unconscious of American literature. As a celebrated example of political theatre, The Exonerated also provides a forum for thinking through the contemporary terms and framework of conversations about state killing. The play promotes reform and …
Writing With Paint, Harvey Young