The Cambridge companion to August Wilson / edited by Christopher Bigsby.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bigsby, C. W. E., editor.

Series:

Cambridge companions to literature.

Cambridge companions to literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wilson, August--Criticism and interpretation.

Wilson, August.

Historical drama, American--History and criticism.

Historical drama, American.

African Americans in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 227 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

One of America's most powerful and original dramatists, August Wilson offered an alternative history of the twentieth century, as seen from the perspective of black Americans. He celebrated the lives of those seemingly pushed to the margins of national life, but who were simultaneously protagonists of their own drama and evidence of a vital and compelling community. Decade by decade, he told the story of a people with a distinctive history who forged their own future, aware of their roots in another time and place, but doing something more than just survive. Wilson deliberately addressed black America, but in doing so discovered an international audience. Alongside chapters addressing Wilson's life and career, and the wider context of his plays, this 2007 Companion dedicates individual chapters to each play in his ten-play cycle, which are ordered chronologically, demonstrating Wilson's notion of an unfolding history of the twentieth century.

Contents:

August Wilson: the ground on which he stood / Christopher Bigsby

Been here and gone / John Lahr

August Wilson's relationship to Black theatre: community, aesthetics, history and race / Mary L. Bogumil

Music and mythology in August Wilson's plays / Kim Pereira

Gem of the ocean and the redemptive power of history / Harry J. Elam, Jr.

Joe Turner's come and gone / Samuel A. Hay

Ma Rainey's black bottom: cutting the historical record, dramatizing a blues CD / Alan Nadel

A piano and its history: family and transcending family / Felicia Hardison Londré

The tragedy of Seven guitars / Brenda Murphy

Safe at home?: August Wilson's Fences / Matthew Roudané

Two trains running: blood on the tracks / Stephen Bottoms

Jitney, folklore and responsibility / David Krasner

King Hedley II: in the midst of all this death / Joan Herrington

Radio golf: the courage of his convictions: survival, success and sprituality / Margaret Booker

Critics on August Wilson / David K. Sauer and Janice A. Sauer

An interview with August Wilson / Christopher Bigsby.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Nov 2015).

ISBN:

1-139-81768-X

1-139-00174-4