Beth Henley read some southern writers like Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor. Henley declares that she loved Flannery O’Connor; however Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty had more influence on her drama. She did not read Flannery O’Connor before writing Crimes of the Hearts. Nevertheless, the reviews claimed that she wrote it like O’Connor. Beth Henley declares that O’Connor writes very intuitively and this makes it impossible for any other reader to steal or copy her works. For Henley, the South is rich in humor and eccentric characters. Consequently, the grotesque and the absurd experience are certainly part of the southern background depicted in Henley’s drama. Actually, Henley’s plays are filled with
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Compared to writers as Tennessee Williams and Flannery O’Connor, many critics admit that Henley is on the track to becoming the next big female playwright. Henley admits that her adoption of opposing morals, events, beliefs, or emotions helps the audience get the human experiences portrayed in her plays. Thus, the mixture of the grotesque and the innocent appeals to her:
I’ve always been attracted to split images. The grotesque combined with the innocent, a child walking with a cane; a kitten with a swollen head; a bunch back drinking a cup of fruit punch. Somehow these images are a metaphor for any view of life; they’re colorful … Southerners bring out the grisly details in any event. ( qtd. In Hewett 3) Even though the technique that Henley follows when using the grotesque and the absurd experience is reminiscent of that of some southern writers like O’Connor, Henley’s drama makes a special contribution to this field. She inserts horrifying events into the mundane world. Henley replaces southern Christian mysticism with another mystifying absurdist perception of existence. The distinctive contribution Henley makes to American theater is that she gives the horrifyingly significant events some intimacy. She lets her audience submit that suicide, death, and assault are ordinary events that we can face every day. Besides, our responses to such events are not but some misguided reactions. William Willis Demastes
Compared to writers as Tennessee Williams and Flannery O’Connor, many critics admit that Henley is on the track to becoming the next big female playwright. Henley admits that her adoption of opposing morals, events, beliefs, or emotions helps the audience get the human experiences portrayed in her plays. Thus, the mixture of the grotesque and the innocent appeals to her:
I’ve always been attracted to split images. The grotesque combined with the innocent, a child walking with a cane; a kitten with a swollen head; a bunch back drinking a cup of fruit punch. Somehow these images are a metaphor for any view of life; they’re colorful … Southerners bring out the grisly details in any event. ( qtd. In Hewett 3) Even though the technique that Henley follows when using the grotesque and the absurd experience is reminiscent of that of some southern writers like O’Connor, Henley’s drama makes a special contribution to this field. She inserts horrifying events into the mundane world. Henley replaces southern Christian mysticism with another mystifying absurdist perception of existence. The distinctive contribution Henley makes to American theater is that she gives the horrifyingly significant events some intimacy. She lets her audience submit that suicide, death, and assault are ordinary events that we can face every day. Besides, our responses to such events are not but some misguided reactions. William Willis Demastes