Larger than Life :Mythicizing the life and Death of August Wilson's Fences' Hero

Abbas, Mohsen

doi:10.21608/jssa.2021.54566.1226

Larger than Life :Mythicizing the life and Death of August Wilson's Fences' Hero

نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية

المؤلف

Mohsen Abbas

جامعة حلوان_-قسم اللغة الإنجليزية-کلية الاداب

10.21608/jssa.2021.54566.1226

المستخلص

August Wilson’s play Fences(1986) is part of the playwright’s twentieth century grand dramatic scheme to portray the African American experience in the States in a decade by decade fashion. In fact, he grounded his plays in African and African American cultures in an attempt to produce distinguished black drama. Obviously enough, Wilson is trying in this play to put the African American experience on equal footing with that of the white culture and to promise hope in a better tomorrow. This research paper aspires to explore how Wilson employs the blues, the game of baseball and storytelling to explain the nature of the adverse world Troy Maxon had to face from birth to death. Additionally, it also intends to describe Wilson’s endeavor to mythologize the life and death of his protagonist and his persuasion that he deserves all respect in spite of his human mistakes, life defeats and small triumphs.

الكلمات الرئيسية

الموضوعات الرئيسية

العلوم الإنسانية

المراجع

References

Awkward, M. (1994). The crooked with the straights: Fences’ race, and the politics of adaptation. InA. Nadel (Ed.). May all your fences have gates: Essays on the drama of August Wilson. 205-230. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Baker, H. (1984).Blues, ideology and Afro-American literature: A vernacular theory. Chicago: university of Chicago press.

Beach, R. (2017).Making sense of events in literature through rewriting narrative events. English Journal, 106. (5).52-57.

Bigsby, C. (Ed.). (2007).The Cambridge companion to August Wilson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bogumil, M.L. (1999).Understanding August Wilson. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

Blumenthal, A. (2000). More stories than the devil got sinners: Troy’s stories in August Wilson’s fences. American Drama, vol. 9 (2), 74-96.

Elam, H. (2004).The past as present in the drama of August Wilson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Elam, H. (1994). August Wilson’s women. In A. Nadel (Ed.) .May all your fences have gates: Essays on the drama of August Wilson. 165-82. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Elkins, M. (Ed.) (2000).August Wilson: A casebook. New York: Garland.

Elias, R. (2001). (Ed.) Baseball and the American dream. New York: M.E. Sharp.

Fishman, J. (2000). Developing his song: August Wilson’s fences. In M. Elkins (Ed.) August Wilson: A casebook. 161-181. New York: Garland.

Gates, H. L.(1988).The signifying monkey: A theory of African- American literary criticism. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gordon, J. (1994).Wilson and Fugard: politics and art. In M. Elkins (Ed.) August Wilson: A casebook. 17-29. New York: Garland.

Koprince, S. (2006). Baseball as history and myth in August Wilson’s fences. African American Review, vol.40 (2), 349-358.

Harrison,P. (1991).Afterword .August Wilson: three plays by August plays. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.291-318.

Harris, T. (2000). August Wilson’s folk traditions. In M. Elkins (Ed.). August Wilson: A casebook. 49-67. New York: Garland.

Holway, J. (1975).Voices from the great black baseball leagues. New York: Dodd, Mead.

Letzler, D. (2014). Walking around the fences: Troy Maxon and the ideology of ‘going down swinging’. African American Review, vol. 42. (2-3), 301-312.

Lyons, B. (1999). An interview with August Wilson. Contemporary Literature, vol.40 (1), 1-21.

Mills, A. (1995). The walking blues: an anthropological approach to the theatre of August Wilson. The Black Scholar, vol. 25(2)30-35.

Monaco, P. (2000). Father, son and Holy Ghost: From the local to the mythical in August Wilson. In M. Elkins (Ed.). August Wilson: A casebook. 89-104. New York: Garland.

Nadel, A. (Ed.). (1994) .May all your fences have gates: Essays on the drama of August Wilson. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Nowatzki, R. (2015). Legitimate black heroes: the Negro leagues, Jackie Robinson, and the national pastime in African American literature. Nine, Vol. 24(1/2), 103-115.

Pereira, K. (1995).August Wilson and the African- American odyssey. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Pettengill, R. (2000). The historical perspective: An interview with August Wilson. In M. Elkins, (Ed.). August Wilson: A casebook. 235-254. New York: Garland.

Rocha, M. (2000). August Wilson and the four b’s’.In M. Elkins (Ed.) August Wilson: A Casebook. 3-16. New York: Garland.

Shafer, Y. (1998). August Wilson: A research and production sourcebook. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Shannon, S. (1995).The dramatic vision of August Wilson. Washington D.C: Howard University Press.

……………. (2003). August Wilson’s fences: A reference guide. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.

Taylor, R. (1996). That’s why they call it the blues. American Theatre, April.18-23.

Timpane, J. (1994). Filling the time: Reading history in the drama of August Wilson. In A. Nadel (Ed.) May all your fences have gates: Essays on the drama of August Wilson. 67-85. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Wessling, J. (1995).Wilson’s Fences. The Explicator, winter, 123-28.

Wattley, A. (2010). Father-son conflict and the American dream in Arthur Miller’s death of a salesman and August Wilson’s fences. The Arthur Miller Journal, vol. 5(2), 1-20.

Wills, A. B.(2017).Heroes, women, wives: Writhing other lives. Fides et Historia, vol. 49(2) 49-52.

Wilson, A. (1986). Fences. New York: Plume.

………… (1997).The ground on which I stand. Callaloo, vol.20 (3), pp.493-503.

Wolfe, P. (1999). August Wilson. New York: Twayne Publishers.