Overview

An intriguing work by the author of Orphans, Robbers is an allegorical comedy drama of becoming where the territory of self is staked out. A repressed young man, who lives in Flatbush with his domineering father, is recruited by a mysterious detective to infiltrate a canning factory where workers are stealing merchandise. He goes undercover, begins to form genuine friendships with the men in the factory, and falls in love with the women. In the guise of his new identity, he discovers his authentic self but soon must choose between his lucrative role as an informer and his loyalty to his new friends. The self is not a permanent entity in Robbers; characters don and shed selves as quickly and easily as coveralls. As in fairy tales, a brutal and myopic older generation of ogres stalks the landscape.