August Wilson's American century : life as art / Laurence A. Glasco.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Glasco, Laurence Admiral, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wilson, August.

African American dramatists--20th century--Biography.

African American dramatists.

African American poets--20th century--Biography.

African American poets.

American drama--African American authors.

American drama.

Historical drama, American--History and criticism.

Historical drama, American.

Genre:

Biographies

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

352 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2026]

Summary:

"Playwright August Wilson is best known for his American Century Cycle, a sequence of ten plays--including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences and The Piano Lesson--that chronicle the lives of Black Americans in each decade of the twentieth century. But behind the celebrated plays stands a complex man shaped by his hometown's vibrant Black culture. In August Wilson's American Century: Life as Art, Laurence A. Glasco, one of the foremost historians of Black life in Pittsburgh, draws on Wilson's early poetry, archival material, and original interviews with family members, neighbors, and friends to show how the city and its residents shaped the playwright and his work. Wilson's overlapping identities as an outsider, warrior, race man, and poet helped him persevere in the face of setbacks, weave real-life observations with his poetry to craft memorable dialogue and compelling characters, and portray the realities of race in America in ways that have resonated with theatergoers and readers ever since. Glasco uncovers the story of how the people and places of Pittsburgh remained with Wilson after he left his hometown, shining through in a body of work that brought the struggles and triumphs of the Black experience to a wide audience and changed American theater for the better." -- Amazon.com.

Contents:

Introduction: The Power of Place

From Plumtree to Pittsburgh

Bedford Avenue Outsider

Hazelwood Warrior

Centre Avenue Poet

Early Poetry

Race Man

Black Horizons Theatre

Return to Poetry

Leaving Pittsburgh

Discovering Bearden, Finding His Way

Breakthroughs

Grappling with Black Nationalism

Seattle Years

Completing the Cycle

Preserving the Legacy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780822948544

0822948540

OCLC:

1557606374