SOURCE: Stafford, Tony J. “The Metaphysics of Rabe's Hurlyburly: ‘Staring into the Eyes of Providence.’” American Drama 1, no. 2 (spring 1992): 60-76.

In the following essay, Stafford argues that “the root cause of the social conditions in Hurlyburly arises from metaphysics, more specifically epistemology and ontology.”

The worrisome picture of contemporary American society as presented in David Rabe's Hurlyburly has been variously described as “an America suffering from confusion, violence, and an obsession with image making” (Kolin 63), “a market society … carried to extremes” (Klein 5), “a world based on whim and whine” (Coale 131), “a parable about the drug generation” (Klein 65), “the babble of Late Capitalism,” “an era of decadent collapse” (Coale 132-33), and a “disabling tumult” (Klein 65). However one describes it, clearly the surface of the play presents a society devastated by drugs, alcohol abuse, casual sex, meaningless relationships, abandoned children, failed marriages, Hollywood hype, the shallowness of the mass media...