August Wilson

August Wilson Plays and Critical Perspectives

August Wilson Century Cycle / Fences / Piano Lesson / Gem of the Ocean / Joe Turner's Come and Gone

Radio Golf / King Hedley II / Jitney / Two Trains Running / August Wilson: Three Plays / Seven Guitars

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom / The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson / August Wilson and Black Aesthetics

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The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson by Sandra Shannon

Reviews

Shannon (African American literature, Howard U.) considers how African American historical playwright Wilson uses poetry, the blues, Romare Bearden's art, and other cultural artifacts in his series of plays dramatizing moments in African American history since 1900. She identifies and analyzes recurring themes in the plays, such as black migration to the north and communication gaps between men and women, and interviews the playwright on his dramatic vision. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

From Book News, Inc.

Wilson is one of the premiere playwrights of the last decade: his contributions are related in contexts of Afro-American history, social change, and black literary achievement. Chapters follow the chronology in which Wilson wrote his plays, presenting analyses of each play and exploring the underlying messages of his drama.

Midwest Book Review

August Wilson scholar Sandra G. Shannon will visit Iowa Summer Rep July 17-18

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- August Wilson scholar Sandra G. Shannon, a professor of African-American literature at Howard University, will be the special guest at a discussion following the Iowa Summer Rep performance of Wilson's "Fences" at 2 p.m. July 18 in Theatre B of the University of Iowa Theatre Building.

(Art Work, left) Mill Hand's Lunch Bucket 1978 by Romare Bearden
Shannon will sign copies of her recent book The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson for an hour before the performance and during intermission, in the Theatre Building lobby. She will also sign books in the lobby before the 8 p.m. July 17 E.C. Mabie Theatre performance of Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and during intermission.

The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson won the 1997 College Language Association's Creative Research Award. The book traces the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's evolution from his boyhood interest in black literature through his success writing plays about the black experience in America.

Her scholarly work on Wilson has appeared in several journals and books, as well as in "The Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History" -- establishing her as the nation's preeminent scholar on August Wilson.

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updated 2 October 2007