SUSAN GLASPELL ON THE VERGE1: MODERNIST FEMININITY ON THE THRESHHOLD

Abstract

This text sets itself the task to look at playwright Susan Glaspell and her play The Verge (1921) as a representation of one of the chief thresholds of modernity: the changing position of women. The focus is on modernist nomadic gestures of ‘pioneering’ in both Glaspell’s writing and her artistic persona. The play is considered from the perspective of creative and moral trespassing in connection with two major cultural tendencies in US society: puritanical conservatism and frontier exploration. The discussion focuses on the migrations of both the fictional character, Claire Archer, and the real woman, Susan Glaspell.