How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Winner of the Putlizer Prize for
Drama, 1999
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Talking Points
The structure of the play: unstuck in time, flashbacks
The Greek Chorus—see p. 2264: Vogel on plays as democracy
The plot--reconstructed
The characters:
Li’l Bit
Peck
Grandmother
Mother
Big Papa
Allusions
Music
Cars: Buick Riviera, Cadillac Eldorado, Chevy Bel Air, Cars
and Sex: e. e. cummings, “she being brand”
Literature and Film: Alice Liddell, Lolita, Emma/Clueless,
Dangerous Liaisons
People: Hugh Hefner and Playboy, George Wallace, Gregory
Peck, Kate Smith,
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
The Original
Li’l Bit
Mary-Louise
Parker
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
The Original
Uncle Peck
David Morse
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Gregory Peck in To Kill a
Mockingbird
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Music References
Roy Orbison, “Sweet Dreams”
Beach Boys, “Little Surfer”
Shirelles, “Dedicated to the One I Love”
Sam Cooke, “You Send Me”
Five Satins, “In the Still of the Night”
Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, “This Girl is a Woman Now”;
“Come Back When You Grow Up”
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Carl Orff, Carmina Burana
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Buick Riviera
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Cadillac Eldorado
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
1956 Chevy Bel Air
cummings, “she being Brand”
she being Brand
-new;and you
know consequently a
little stiff i was
careful of her and(having
thoroughly oiled the universal
joint tested my gas felt of
her radiator made sure her springs were O.
K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her
up,slipped the
clutch(and then somehow got into reverse she
kicked what
the hell)next
minute i was back in neutral tried and
again slo-wly;bare,ly nudg. ing (my
lev-er Rightoh and her gears being in
A 1 shape passed
from low through
second-in-to-high like
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
grasedlightning
cummings, “she being Brand”
just as we turned the corner of Divinity
avenue i touched the accelerator and give
her the juice,good
(it
was the first ride and believe i we was
happy to see how nice she acted right up to
the last minute coming back down by the Public
Gardens i slammed on
the
internalexpanding
&
externalcontracting
brakes Bothatonce and
brought allofher tremB
-ling
to a:dead.
stand;Still)
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Poussion, Rape of the Sabine Women (1634)
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
Hugh Hefner in London, 1969
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel