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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Medical procedures and terminal illness; the physical realities of cancer treatment are depicted clearly
Language
Barely any
Mild language in Edson's literary dramatic register
Sexual Content
None
No sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Medical treatments including chemotherapy
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychological confrontation with mortality — and the question of whether a lifetime of intellectual achievement provides any comfort at the end — is the play's profound and direct subject
What this book is about
Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play follows Dr. Vivian Bearing, a brilliant and demanding professor of John Donne's metaphysical poetry, who is diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer and becomes a subject in an experimental treatment. The play's central irony — that a person who has spent her life studying death and language must now live both — is played with devastating wit and genuine emotion. A significant work of American theater.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
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