August Wilson: A Literary Companion (McFarland Literary Companions, 1)

August Wilson: A Literary Companion (McFarland Literary Companions, 1) by Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780786419036.

Award-winning African-American playwright August Wilson created a cultural chronicle of black America through such works as Ma Raineys Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turners Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and Two Trains Running. The authentic ring of wit, anecdote, homily, and plaint proved that a self-educated Pittsburgh ghetto native can grow into a revered conduit for a century of black achievement. He forced readers and audiences to examine the despair generated by poverty and racism by exploring African-American heritage and experiences over the course of the twentieth century. This literary companion provides the reader with a source of basic data and analysis of characters, dates, events, allusions, staging strategies and themes from the work of one of Americas finest playwrights. The text opens with an annotated chronology of Wilsons life and works, followed by his family tree. Each of the 166 encyclopedic entries that make up the body of the work combines insights from a variety of sources along with generous citations; each concludes with a selected bibliography on such relevant subjects as the blues, Malcolm X, irony, roosters, and Gothic mode. Charts elucidate the genealogies of Wilsons characters, the Charles, Hedley, and Maxson families, and account for weaknesses in Wilsons female characters. Two appendices complete the generously cross-referenced work: a timeline of events in Wilsons life and those of his characters, and a list of 40 topics for projects, composition, and oral analysis.