(b. 1947– )
U.S. playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director
David Mamet
How much can one remove, and still have the composition be intelligible? Chekhov removed the plot. Pinter, elaborating, removed the history, the narration; Beckett, the characterization. We hear it anyway.
“Writers on Writing; Hearing The Notes That Aren’t Played,” The New York Times, July 15, 2002.
Mr. Mamet says he’s not interested in writing about himself: “My life is a f— bore, I mean, all I do is read, and think and write and hang out with my family.” If he or one of his kids comes up with a zinger, he likes to get the one-liner emblazened on a T-shirt so he can wear it. Recently, he got one printed with a retort from his son after he asked the boy what it would take to get him to go to bed. The shirt reads: “Life is a Harsh Mistress.”
“Mamet on Growing Up,” by Ellen Gamerman, The Wall Street Journal, October 15, 2010.