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 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.
目錄:
List of contributors
Note on the text
List of plays
1 August Wilson: the ground on which he stood
page
christopher bigsby
2 Been here and gone
john lahr
3 August Wilson’s relationship to black theatre:
community, aesthetics, history and race
mary l. bogumil
4 Music and mythology in August Wilson’s plays
kim pereira
5 Gem of the Ocean and the redemptive power of
history
harry j. elam, jr.
6 Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
samuel a. hay
7 Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: cutting the historical
record, dramatizing a blues CD
alan nadel
8 A piano and its history: family and transcending
family
felicia hardison londré
9 The tragedy of Seven Guitars
brenda murphy
10 Safe at home?: August Wilson’s Fences
matthew roudané
11 Two Trains Running: blood on the tracks
stephen bottoms
12 Jitney, folklore and responsibility
david krasner
13 King Hedley II: in the midst of all this death
joan herrington
14 Radio Golf: the courage of his convictions –
survival, success and spirituality
margaret booker
15 Critics on August Wilson
david k. sauer and janice a. sauer
16 An interview with August Wilson
christopher bigsby
Index