Approaches to teaching the plays of August Wilson / edited by Sandra G. Shannon and Sandra L. Richards.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Shannon, Sandra Garrett, 1952- editor.

Richards, Sandra L., 1946- editor.

Series:

Approaches to teaching world literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wilson, August--Study and teaching.

Wilson, August.

Wilson, August--Criticism and interpretation.

Study skills.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

vi, 214 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : The Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

Summary:

The award-winning playwright August Wilson used drama as a medium to write a history of twentieth-century America through the perspectives of its black citizenry. In the plays of his Pittsburgh Cycle, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences and The Piano Lesson, Wilson mixes African spirituality with the realism of the American theater and puts African American storytelling and performance practices in dialogue with canonical writers like Aristotle and Shakespeare. Wilson's plays, as they portray black American living through migration, industrialization, and war explore the relation between a unified black consciousness and America's collective identity. In part 1 of this volume, "Materials," the editors survey sources on Wilson's biography, teachable texts of Wilson's plays, useful secondary readings, and compelling audiovisual and Web resources. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," look at a diverse set of issues in Wilson's work, including the importance of blues and jazz, intertextual connections to other playwrights, race in performance, Yoruban spirituality, and the role of women in the plays. Book jacket.

Contents:

Preface to the Volume / Sandra L. Richards. Introduction ; Access to the Plays ; Full-Length Critical Resources ; Key Essays and Critical Anthologies ; Student Resources ; Additional Resources

Comparing Wilson with Shakespeare: Teaching the Politics and Practices of Race in Performance / Ayanna Thompson

Blues Brothers: Crosscurrents in Fences and A Streetcar Named Desire / Keith Clark

Teaching August Wilson in an American Drama Survey / Soyica Diggs Colbert

Person, Place, and the Ordinary in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean / Douglas A. Jones, Jr.

August Wilson, Jazz Structure, and the Historical Record / Alan Nadel

Telling the Story: August Wilson's Challenge to Young Actors / Joan Herrington, Von Washington

Spotlight on Material Culture. The Logic of Chance: Blues and Policy in August Wilson's Two Trains Running / Andrew Scheiber

Spatial Politics and Memory: The Urban Geography of August Wilson s Radio Golf / James Engstrom, Paul K. Bryant-Jackson

Lesson Plans for the Millennial Student: An Interdisciplinary Course Inspired by the Plays of August Wilson / Sandra G. Shannon

African Routes. Teaching Joe Turner's Come and Gone / Harry J. Elam, Jr.

African Codes and the Satiric Impulses in Wilson / Femi Euba

"You on an Adventure": Teaching August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean / Sandra L. Richards

Teaching the Cycle: Understanding August Wilson's Fractal Dramaturgy / Faedra Chatard Carpenter

Teaching Students How to Examine the Role of Women in August Wilsons Plays / Dana A. Williams

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Approaches to teaching the plays of August Wilson

ISBN:

9781603292580

1603292586

9781603292597

1603292594

OCLC:

942885185