1、Biography: August Wilson,Born 1945 Died 2005,One of only seven American dramatists to win two Pulitzer Prizes (one for Fences and one for A Piano Lesson) First African-American to have two plays run simultaneously on Broadway Major influences on his work: The Harlem Renaissance of the 20s and the Bl
2、ack Arts Movement of the 1960s,Known for his cycle of 10 plays Each explores a central issue facing African American in a different decade of the 20th century His exploration of African American history, according to Wilson himself, began in 1965, when listening to Jazz singer Bessie Smiths “Nobody
3、in Town Can Bake a Sweet Jellyroll Like Mine.” Wilson became aware that he was representative of a culture and the carrier of some valuable antecedents,Cycle of plays began with Ma Raineys Black Bottom, set in the 1920s Joe Turners Come and Gone, 1910s Fences, 1950s The Piano Lesson, 1930s Two Train
4、s Running, 1960s Seven Guitars, 1940s,He was born in Pittsburgh, PA Son of German American Frederick August Kittel and African American Daisy Wilson Grew up in a poor, racially mixed section of Pittsburgh called “the Hill” Fences is set in a fictionalized Pittsburgh,He was actively raised by his Afr
5、ican American stepfather, David Belford Remembers his biological father only as a “sporadic presence” In the 1950s, the family relocated to a predominantly white suburb, where Wilson for the first time experienced racial prejudice personally Bricks thrown at house, threatening notes and racial slurs
6、 at school, slighting by white class mates He quits school at 15 and educates himself at the public library,Besides his reading, local oral traditions become influential for his work: “About 21 living in Pittsburgh, it was very difficult . . . and I wasnt quite sure I was going to be 22. And I looke
7、d up and saw this old man walking down the street and I said I didnt know how he lived to be 65. . . . I followed him and went into this place called Pats place, which was a cigar store. And there these guys would stand around every day and I would stand around in the background and listen to them.
8、 . . Little did I know that many years later . . . I would make use of them in my plays.”,His play Ma Raineys Black Bottom opened on Broadway in 1984 and was a commercial and critical success Wilsons ability to produce this play on Broadway was greatly supported by Lloyd Richards, Dean of Yale Scho
9、ol of Drama, who supported his work throughout his life,Fences started on Broadway in 1987, starring James Earl Jones as Troy Maxson The play was a tremendous critical success, winning him the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, four Tony awards (including Best Play), and the Pulitzer Prize for dra
10、ma Critics especially praised the way he placed a father-son conflict into the specific social and cultural context of lower-class African-Americans in the 1950s Rust Belt Also, praise for his ability to create myths; described by Michael Feingold of the Village Voice as “a mythmaker who sees his ba
11、sically naturalistic panorama plays as sages in an allegorical history of black America.”,Followed by other successful plays such as Joe Turners Come and Gone, set in 1910s Pittsburgh Explores the lives of characters in danger of being cut off from their African and southern roots by their migration
12、 to the North Lauded by Fran Rich of the NYTimes as “spiritual allegory” Overall: Wilsons plays help to remedy the underrepresentation of African Americans in American theater Uses poetic dialogue combined with material from his own past; found a way to incorporate politics and history, as well as aspects of a distinctive African American culture But his plays also appeal to a mass audience,
