A Whore's Profession brings together, for the first time, David Mamet's acclaimed volumes of notes and essays, including, The Cabin, Writing in Restaurants, Some Freaks and On Directing Film. Poignant, intimate, insightful and witty by turns, these writings are an essential accompaniment for David Mamet's plays, and an education for anyone interested in theatre, film, and writing. In these wise, revealing, and endlessly amusing pieces, David Mamet touches upon many aspects of his life as a writer. In Writing in Restaurants he reflects modestly on his career, while Some Freaks discourses loudly and entertainingly on aspects of contemporary culture - like the movies, Disneyland and on being a tourist. On Directing Film shows his ebullient and practical approach to his own film-making. Central to these essays is Mamet's own work as a writer, and it is in The Cabin that Mamet comes closest to defining himself. Included are autobiographical vignettes from childhood and youth describing the gamut of human emotion, from childhood fear to adult nostalgia in the re-creation of the past.
Author
David Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity. As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997). Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.
