The evolution of the frontier myth in 19th-20th century American drama

Abstract

This study is dedicated to the evolution of the frontier myth in American drama of the 19th and 20th centuries. The research aims to trace the transformation of the myth from its melodramatic origins (in the plays of J. A. Stone, F. Murdoch, and D. Belasco) to its radical deconstruction in the second half of the 20th century (A. Kopit, S. Shepard, and D. Nigro), and to identify the ideological and aesthetic outcomes of this process. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that, for the first time in Russian literary studies, the evolution of the frontier concept is systematically conceptualized based on American drama from its inception in the 19th century to the present day. Furthermore, the application of a combined methodology – integrating mythopoetic, postcolonial, and gender approaches – allowed for an analysis of the transformation of key archetypes, specifically the Noble Savage, the Frontiersman, and the Woman of the West. The study analyzes the plays of nine American playwrights to demonstrate how this national myth was constructed and subsequently dismantled. The results show that the theater was at the foundational roots of the frontier myth, actively participating in its popularization, and that 20th-century drama became the site of its complete debunking and deconstruction.

Research materials

1. Belasco D. The Girl of The Golden West: A Play In Four Acts. N. Y. – L.: Samuel French, 1933.
2. Crothers R. The Three of Us: A Play In Four Acts. N. Y. – L.: Samuel French, 1916.
3. Daly A. Horizon: An Original Drama of Contemporaneous Society And Of American Frontier Perils. In Five Acts and Seven Tableaux. N. Y.: Printed, as manuscript, 1885.
4. Grover L., Murdoch F., Wallack L., Jessop G. H., McCloskey J. J. Davy Crockett & Other Plays / Ed. by I. Goldberg, H. Heffner. Princeton University Press, 1940. Vol. 4.
5. Kopit A. Indians: A Play. Hill & Wang, 1969.
6. Miller J. The Danites in the Sierras: An Idyl Drama, in Four Acts. The original London version. San Francisco: The California Publishing Co., 1882.
7. Moody W. V. The Great Divide: A Play in Three Acts. N. Y.: Macmillan, 1909.
8. Nigro D. Border Warfare. N. Y.: Samuel French, Inc., 2008.
9. Shepard S. True West. Seven Plays. Bantam Books, 1984.
10. Stone J. A. Metamora; or, The Last of the Wampanoags // Metamora & Other Plays / ed. by Eugene R. Page. Indiana University Press, 1965.

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Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: March 19, 2026.
• Published: April 21, 2026.

Keywords

• миф фронтира
• американская драма
• демифологизация фронтира
• архетип фронтирсмена
• национальный миф
• frontier myth
• American drama
• demythologization of the frontier
• Frontiersman archetype
• national myth

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