The Theatre of August Wilson
eBook - PDF

The Theatre of August Wilson

  1. 236 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Theatre of August Wilson

About this book

The first comprehensive study of August Wilson's drama introduces the major themes and motifs that unite Wilson's ten-play cycle about African American life in each decade of the twentieth century. Framed by Wilson's life experiences and informed by his extensive interviews, this book provides fresh, coherent, detailed readings of each play, well-situated in the extant scholarship. It also provides an overview of the cycle as a whole, demonstrating how it comprises a compelling interrogation of American culture and historiography.

Keenly aware of the musical paradigms informing Wilson's dramatic technique, Nadel shows how jazz and, particularly, the blues provide the structural mechanisms that allow Wilson to examine alternative notions of time, property, and law. Wilson's improvisational logics become crucial to expressing his notions of black identity and resituating the relationship of literal to figurative in the African American community.

The final two chapters include contributions by scholars Harry J. Elam, Jr. and Donald E. Pease

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Information

Publisher
Methuen Drama
Year
2018
Print ISBN
9781472534439
eBook ISBN
9781472527646
Edition
1
Topic
Media & Performing Arts
Subtopic
Literary Criticism in Drama

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
  8. 1. Becoming August Wilson
  9. 2. History and/as Performance: The Drama of African American Historiography
  10. 3. Cutting the Historical Record, Recording the Blues: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  11. 4. Beginning Again, Again: Gem of the Ocean and Jitney
  12. 5. The Boundaries of Property and the Properties of Humanity: Fences and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
  13. 6. The Properties of the Piano and the Legacy of Human Property: The Piano Lesson
  14. 7. Urban Renewal by Any Means Necessary: Two Trains Running
  15. 8. “Sad Stories of the Death of Kings”: Seven Guitars and King Hedley II
  16. 9. The Century That Can’t Fix Nothing with the Law: Radio Golf
  17. 10. Critical and Performance Perspectives
  18. Notes
  19. References
  20. Notes on Contributors
  21. Index

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Yes, you can access The Theatre of August Wilson by Alan Nadel, Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr., Patrick Lonergan, Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr.,Patrick Lonergan in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Literary Criticism in Drama. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.