Dear friends,
It’s going to be a busy few days, as we prepare to head to my mom’s in West Virginia for Thanksgiving, but I’m going to do my best to post items on here. This is something I’ve been planning to do for some time, and while it might be a bit of a cheat as a blog post, the substance is nothing sort of amazing. That we can go on the Internet and read the entirety of Edward Albee’s one-act play, The Zoo Story, is just amazing.
If I have to pick my absolute favorite piece of American literature, this is usually the best I can come up with. I love strong dialog, and I love strong characters created through strong dialog. Albee was a master of this, and The Zoo Story is possibly the best example of it.
My favorite thing about this play–aside from that amazing ending–is that you can read it so quickly. I’ve never timed it, but it can probably read in about the same time that you can read a TV drama. And to read such a strong piece of literature in such a short period of time was such a satisfying experience for me that first time I read it.
This is not for everyone, I realize that, but for you readers, who like to get value for your reading time, I can’t think of another piece that gives back more for your minutes.
So, if you don’t want to spend 45 minutes reading posts on here–my confidence makes me think you’d be better served to do that, and I hope you do–this is an amazing piece of literature, and it’s right here free.
If you do take the time to read it, I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on it.
Much love and many thanks.
Paulelmo's Blog 
This is the second play I’ve read of Edward Albee’s (the first being “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”). What a strange, sad play. I liked it. Albee definitely deserves his reputation and status as a great playwright.
I’ll have to give myself some time before I read it again so I can ponder on it. It’s definitely not something you read again so quickly, even if it is read quickly in and of itself.
When I saw “for William Flanagan”, I thought, “The composer?” So, I looked it up, and sure enough, it is the composer William Flanagan. Today I learned Flanagan and Albee were lovers and that possibly Flanagan influenced the way Albee wrote in his early. Interesting. It’s hard to track down any recordings of Flanagan’s music, but it is good stuff, particularly his songs.
I’ll have to check some of his stuff out. Let me know when you read it again. Much love, bro. Thanks for the comments.