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TCNJ English MA Student Publishes Article on “The Matchmaker”

Congrats to Charles (Chuck) Martocello (‘22, English MA program) on his recent publication, “In Defense of Horace Vandergelder: A Historicist Reading of The Matchmaker” in the Thornton Wilder Journal, published by Penn State University Press. Under the mentorship of Dr. Lincoln Konkle, in ENGL 552: A Seminar in Drama, Chuck published his article on Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, arguing “that Horace Vandergelder is more than a typical one-dimensional character that inhabits a farce” (Martocello). Set in Yonkers, New York, at the end of the 19th century, The Matchmaker is Wilder’s 1954 version of The Merchant of Yonkers. New to the 1954 version is Dolly Gallagher Levi who acts as a tour-de-force and matchmaker. Hired by Vandergelder to find him a wife, Dolly entangles Horace in some suspicious activity before anyone can have a partner. Although the play ends with everyone finding a match, you will have to read Chuck’s article to see what he thinks of this mysterious matchmaker’s skills!
Read his analysis at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/thorntonwilderj.2.1.0068

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