Thomas Kilroy's The shape of metal

Kilroy in The Shape of Metal keeps probing into the age-old problems of the relationship between art and life, artist and human being, physical reality and its transcendence. The essay attempts to examine some of the ways Kilroy dramatizes the experience of human and artistic failure through the protagonist, an old female sculptor, and the evocation of giant artists, from Michelangelo through Giacometti to Beckett. It argues that the achievements and artistic principles of these artists highlight some of Kilroy's own drama-forming principles and aspects of his theatricality.