Thus Always Unto Tyrants Reading List pt 1
Part of an ongoing series towards a play and essays centering on Boston Corbett, the man who killed John Wilkes Booth.
I’ve been reading a lot for the project, or trying to. The reading list that I’ve cultivated for the project is, hopefully, reflective of what I am hoping the project is shaping into. Of course, a work of art isn’t merely the synthesis of its influences, but, for this project, chasing the idea down through these texts has been the definitive catalytic force. (At the same time, I am probably reaching the end of this stage, at least for the play itself. The words are on the page. It is getting time to put these words into actors mouths and see if they will be animated from dead text into living art. Will it work??)
Loosely, the books I’ve been reading can be divided into three categories: Plays, history, and theory. Among the plays are both contemporary works- I’m learning to write a play as I engage with this project- and works of classical tragedy. Among the history are books directly pertaining to the plot of the play- I’ve only found one book about Corbett himself but I’ve been reading about John Wilkes Booth and the assassination- books on American history more broadly, and books about the history of theater. Among the theory are philosophical texts that have helped me sharpen the background themes (as it were) of the project as well as books about the practice of theater (I’m learning to write a play as I engage with this project. These are the books on my desk now.
The Books
The Counter-Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne. Currently reading. It’s about African slave rebellions in the years leading up to the American revolution in 1776 and the way they shaped that revolution. The thesis is that the American revolution was essentially a counter-revolutionary one in response to these slave rebellions and the English ban on the slave trade in 1772. It also discusses the formation of whiteness against the backdrop of the 17th and 18th century slave trade, the uneasy integration of the Irish into that project, war between England and Spain, and the general Catholic-Protestant conflict of the time. Not directly related to Thus Always Unto Tyrants, but these are the conditions of slavery that led to the civil war, and uprisings and counter-revolutions are relevant to the project.
The Oresteia- Aeschylus (Robert Fagles translation)- This one has ended up being integral to the project. I hope to publish a couple of essays on plays soon. I’ve taken lines from these plays and quoted them directly. I hope it will make sense in context. Robert Kennedy Sr. quoted Agamemnon the day of Martin Luther King’s assassination, two months before his own. In the words of Junius Booth, “violence breeds its own avenger”. The Eumenides ends with the triumph of the law over the chthonic furies and essentially the creation of democracy. (As they play has developed I’ve drifted away from Julius Caesar itself as the definitive reference text and towards The Oresteia. On the one hand, its important to follow the work where it wants to go, but at the same time I’m worried about it. Is the project getting away from me?)
The Empty Space- Peter Brooks- Written the same year as the assassinations of MLK and RFK Sr. An overview of the then contemporary theater scene. Theory with the practitioner in mind.
American Gothic- Gene Smith- “The Story of America’s Legendary Theatrical Family, Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth”- the Booth family and their theatrical legacy is so fascinating. I’ve written about it more at length and hope to post that at some point.
My Thoughts be Bloody- Nora Titone- More about the theatrical rivalry between John Wilkes and Edwin Booth. Edwin was, at the time of Lincoln’s assassination, the most prominent theater performer in America, known especially for his performance of Hamlet. This is one of the books I read when I began this project in 2019.
The Unlocked Booth- Asia Booth Clarke- A short biography, or rather recollection, of John Wilkes Booth by his sister.
American Brutus- Michael W. Kaufman I have only had the chance to glance through this one but it seems very promising. About JWB as well as the wider plot to assassinate Lincoln. Booth as the convergence point of American history and theatrical lineage.
Right or Wrong, God Judge Me: The Writings of John Wilkes Booth- I’ve been perusing this one for quotes to integrate into the play.
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power- John Meacham- I haven’t had a chance to read this yet. Jefferson falls slightly outside of the epicenter of the play, but his writings on tyranny, his ties to Virginia (sic temper tyrannis), his formative role in the creation of America, and his relationship to slavery mean he is a figure that looms large over the project. I’ve taken some quotes of his.1
The Federalist Papers- I’ll be honest I’m probably never going to read these. Certainly not in full. Who has? Still, it’s interesting to get a sense of the thoughts of the founders.
Hamletmachine and other texts for the stage- Heinrich Mueller- A work of very experimental reconfiguration of Hamlet (Edwin Booth’s signature role), written for the stage. It’s useful to me to see how a modern experimental writer engages with such a canonical work. Also includes a reconfiguration of Medea. I’m learning how to write a play as I engage in this project. (Hopefully the juxtaposition of this play with the past few books I talked about gives you a sense of what I am trying to draw from for this project.) (I also hope that as the play moves from script to production for it to take on more of the experimental aspects of someone like Mueller. I think as it stands, my script is still too literal, too narrative.) (Imagine Edwin Booth in a performance of Hamletmachine.
The Burial at Thebes- Seamus Heaney- Another modern re-working of classical tragedy, this time Antigone
Metamorphoses- Mary Zimmerman- Another contemporary adaption of the Greeks, this time Ovid.
The Odyssey- trans. Robert Fagles- I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I’m going to make it through this one. Maybe someday. For now I’m sticking to the tragedies.
Marat/ Sade- Peter Weiss- Explained pretty succinctly by its subtitle: “the persecution and assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as performed by the inmates of the asylum of Charenton under the direction of the Marquis De Sade”. De Sade writes a play about the assignation of the French revolutionary leader while in an asylum and gets the inmates to stage it. Revolution and counter revolution. The fever dream of the sixties through the prism of the French Revolution (through the prism of De Sade) A musical, so reading it only goes so far. The 1967 film version is maybe my favorite musicals. Judy Collins carries. An example of a work that is able to carry a lot of dense, weighty, big themes (revolution and counter-revolution) while remaining completely nimble and light on its feet. Something I hope to be able to emulate.2
The Prisoner- Peter Brook and Marie-Hélené Estienne. I haven’t read this and I don’t actually remember ever seeing it before, to be honest. A very slim book. The back cover suggests that “somewhere in the world a man sits alone outside a prison. Who is he, and why is he there?”
The Gospel at Colonus- Lee Breur- Oedipus at Colonus reimagined as a Black church service. I saw a performance of this at the Court theater a couple of years ago, and I really liked it.
Saint-Joan of the Stockyards- Bertolt Brecht- I really need to read this one. Brecht, as a theorist, is someone I’ve been reading a lot of as I’ve tried to give myself a crash course on theater.
How to Stage Greek Tragedy Today- Simon Goldhill- A guide for contemporary staging of Greek tragedy, pitched largely towards directors and performers. A practical book, but one attuned to its historical context and the philosophical/ theoretical translation necessary for successfully staging these plays. A rich text that proved very useful to me at the start of this project, as I was getting my feet under me and trying to synthesize my ideas. It helped me get a better understanding of both the practicalities of staging theater as well as the philosophical context undergirding Greek tragedy.
Tim: The Official Biography of Avicii- Måns Mosesson- Not quite sure how this ended up in the pile.
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics- Stephen Greenblatt- This one was essential for helping me write/ read my way back into the project after a few years away from it. A study of Shakespeare through the politics of tyranny, or a study of tyranny through Shakespeare, has been instructive as I write about Boston Corbett, the man who killed John Wilkes Booth, the Shakespearean actor who shouted sic temper tyrannis after shooting Abraham Lincoln.
Jefferson: Writings- Thomas Jefferson- I’ve looked through it for quotes, but like the Federalist Papers, I doubt I will ever read it front to back.
One I’ve been thinking about “I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!'" (notes on the state of Virginia)-
(An awareness of the sin of slavery. A certain awareness of the divine retribution coming America’s. As damning a view of America as any. The revolution of the wheel of fortune- revolution and counterrevolution- thus always unto tyrants.)
Susan Sontag’s essay on the play, Marat/Sade/Artaud, has also been instructive- the emphasis on the role that insanity plays as the register and infection of the play, and the idea that the play becomes a play of ideas through its depiction of insanity - relevant to my project as I use Boston Corbett as a starting point. I may write more about this. (I’ve also read some work of Artaud, but since it was a pdf version I’m not including it in this list.)