These issues consist of the edited Proceedings of the Shepard conference, organized by the Belgian-Luxembourg American Studies Association and the Free University of Brussels (VUB), which took place in Brussels, 28-30 May 1993. It will be of interest to undergraduates and postgraduates, professors, critics, theater practitioners, writers and those with a keen interest in the fields of literature, theater studies and cultural studies.Blood and bones yet dressed in poetry - the drama of Sam Shepard, C.W.E. Bigsby; trying to like Sam Shepard - or, the emperor's new dungarees, Susan Harris Smith; Shepard's sit-trag - salvation subverted, Tony Silverman Zinman; staging "things" - realism and the theatrical object in Shepard's theatre, Stanton B. Garner; portrait of the artist as a young musician, writer, actor, Ruby Cohn; the sadomasochist in the closet, David Savran.