The Rape of the Author: How Charles Mee (re)defines authorship and its manifestation in his play Big Love

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2007
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Haverford College. Department of English
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
This English Senior Essay offers an introduction to the work of contemporary American playwright Charles Mee and his (re)making project. It examines his play Big Love, paying particular attention to the characters’ suggestion that rape is not necessarily a sexual violation, but the act of taking anything by force. The essay argues that Mee’s figurative rape of other author’s texts is necessary to free writing from copyright restrictions and to ultimately establish a free textual exchange among writers. Given that this rape analogy is not Mee’s own, the essay ultimately suggests that the playwright literalizes a long-standing literary theory to suggest that textual appropriation is a manifestation of writing, rather than an assault on its conventions.
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