Twistin’ the Night Away: Perverted Nostalgia in How I Learned to Drive

Author

Coco McNeilFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-4-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

English

First Advisor

Wendy Allison Lee

Abstract

This paper situates Paula Vogel's 1997 play How I Learned to Drive as an American memory play that is representative of 1990s cultural and political discourses rooted in nostalgia for the 1960s. By examining each character--the Greek Chorus, Peck, and Li'l Bit--within Lauren Berlant's 'intimate public sphere,' 1960s iconography, and memory practices, I argue that Vogel offers an allegory in Drive that characterizes this nostalgia as perverted and traumatizing rather than idyllic.

Recommended Citation

McNeil, Coco, "Twistin’ the Night Away: Perverted Nostalgia in How I Learned to Drive" (2021). English Honors Theses. 54.
https://creativematter.skidmore.edu/eng_stu_schol/54