我欲我所应得：论奥古斯特·威尔逊戏剧中的英雄
|
摘要
通过本论文，作者旨在解决如下问题：在奥古斯特·威尔逊的二十世纪系列剧中，美国黑人小人物如何体现了蕴涵黑人文化价值的英雄主义?
奥古斯特·威尔逊美国二十世纪最主要的剧作家之一。许多评论家和学者认为威尔逊是继尤金·奥尼尔、田纳西·威廉斯和阿瑟·米勒之后美国第四位最伟大的剧作家。威尔逊用了二十余年的时间撰写了十部系列剧，每部剧以二十世纪每个十年为背景，反映那个十年中非裔美国人最普遍的问题。威尔逊不仅希望以此重新评价历史，更希望弘扬美国黑人文化。当非裔美国人面对社会不公和压迫时，是他们自己的种族文化使他们团结在一起，并赋予他们以力量。
英雄是某一特定文化身份的代言人，其行为有助于此文化的生存与发展。威尔逊的戏剧根植于美国黑人文化。在他创造的众多人物中，能够被称为英雄的是这样一些人：他们特立独行，以实际行动，或者至少具有强烈的意愿，挑战社会之不公，维护或保护黑人文化身份和文化价值体系，并以此直接或间接地推动小至家庭、社区，大至整个种族的黑人社会的发展。本文以卡尔顿·W·莫莱特和芭芭拉·W·莫莱特的美国黑人英雄评价框架和约翰·W·罗伯茨的有关美国黑人民间英雄的理论为主要理论参考，按照英雄解决问题的行为方式，将威尔逊已出版的九部剧中的黑人英雄分为四类加以分析：“不法”英雄、具有自觉意识的英雄、智者以及智慧的傻子。
威尔逊剧中的“不法”英雄与社区内外的种种不公做斗争。在白人掌权者的眼中，他们算不得侠盗罗宾汉，而是一无是处的罪犯。但是在黑人同胞眼中，他们代表了更高境界的正义、不屈不挠的反抗精神、受压迫被掠夺者的尊严、以及对文化价值的保护。威尔逊对“不法”英雄致以深深的敬意。他尊崇他们的勇士精神，但不赞成暴力和盲目的激愤。暴力并不是目的，也不是解决问题的最佳途径。尽管他们的本意是好的，但目的的正确不等于手段的合理。有时他们的一意孤行会带来严重后果。
当“不法”英雄处于绝境时，他们会求助于外部力量，而具有自觉意识的英雄则会向自身寻求力量。他们所进行的战斗是信念、智慧和毅力的较量。他们自身即明晰，或在进行一场艰苦的精神探寻后意识到，其在美国社会的自身价值，及该如何挖掘自身力量在艰难时局中生存发展。同时他们还帮助别人建立非裔美国人身份、挖掘自身潜力、发现自身在白人掌控的社会中的独特价值。
威尔逊剧中，作为普通人的现代英雄是不完美的。他们会经常犯判断上的错误或饱尝精神上的痛苦。他们需要有人指引他们走出迷宫，从困惑和迷惘中解放出来。智者承担了疗伤和引导的任务。他们具有岁月和经验铸就的良好的判断力和大智慧，是最受尊敬最伟大的英雄。智慧的傻子在威尔逊的戏剧中是另类的智者，但剧中人物往往由于无法理解他们模糊的暗示而与真理失之交臂。在结尾处，本文强调了威尔逊如同他创作的智者英雄一样堪称一位文学英雄。通过戏剧，他不仅给其黑人同胞以指导、抚平他们的创伤、赋予他们以力量，并且和所有接触他戏剧的观众和读者共同分享他的智慧。
With this dissertation, I intend to answer the following question: how African-American heroism that embodies African-American cultural values is manifested in the insignificant and oppressed African-American common men in August Wilson's 20th century cycle plays?
August Wilson is one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth century. Many critics and scholars believe Wilson is the fourth greatest playwright after Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. It took Wilson more than twenty years to write a series of ten plays. Each play is about one decade of the twentieth-century and conveys issues prevalent to African-American individuals during that period. Through the historical moments in his drama, Wilson hopes not only to reevaluate the past but to illuminate African-American culture that, in the face of social injustice and oppression, has united and empowered African-American people.
Hero, as a symbol of cultural identity, displays traits necessary for a culture to survive and thrive. Wilson anchors his drama in African-American culture. Of a good many characters in his oeuvre, the ones that can be crowned heroes are those who distinguish themselves in actions, or at least in their anxious intentions, to challenge social injustice or to maintain and protect the cultural identity and values, and thus directly or indirectly help African-American community, which can be as limited as a family or a neighborhood, or as extended as the whole race, to progress. According to the means that Wilson's heroes adopt to address their problems, this study, mainly based on Cartton W. and Barbara J. Molette's framework of African-American hero assessment and John W. Roberts' theory of African-American folk hero, considers four variants of the African-American hero in Wilson's nine published plays: outlaw-hero, self-conscious hero, sage and wise fool.
Wilson's outlaw-heroes strike against unfairness and constriction within and without African-American community. In the eyes of white authority, the outlaw-heroes are never Robin Hood, but worthless criminals, however, to African-American people, they subscribe to high ideals and represent unbending resistance to injustice, persistent pursuit of natural justice, dignity of the dispossessed and the oppressed, and protection of cultural values. Wilson pays tribute to his outlaw-heroes. What he admires and advocates is their warrior spirit, but not the violence or sullen rage manifested sometimes by the characters. For the outlaw-heroes in Wilson's works, violence is not the end and may not be the best way to solve their problems. Their intentions may be good, yet the end cannot justify the means. At times the heroes' single-mindedness can have serious consequences.
In Wilson's drama, while most outlaw-heroes, when trapped in desperation, resort to external forces for power, the self-conscious heroes turn to the interior. For self-conscious heroes, there is never any battle but a battle of faith, wisdom and resolution. They are, or become after tormenting soul-searching, clearly aware of their self-worth and their positions in American society, and know or get to know how to cope with the difficult world with the strength within. Some of them also help others establish an African-American identity, explore their innate strength and become aware of their own values in a white dominant society.
Wilson's modern heroes as common men are imperfect. From time to time they make mistakes in judgment, and more often than not they suffer from psychological trauma. They need someone to lead them out of the maze and free them from confusion and illusion. The role of healing and guiding is usually taken by the sage, who exhibits good judgment and profound wisdom that come with age and experience. As a wise, trusted and the most venerated guide and adviser, the sage is the greatest of Wilson's heroes. Wise fools serve as alternatives to sages. Unfortunately, people sometimes fail to take wise fools' obscure hints and hence miss the precious opportunities to see the truth. And by the end of this dissertation, August Wilson the playwright is evaluated as a literary hero who, like a sage, not only instructs, heals, and empowers his fellow African-Americans but also shares his wisdom with all his theatre audiences and readers alike.
奥古斯特·威尔逊美国二十世纪最主要的剧作家之一。许多评论家和学者认为威尔逊是继尤金·奥尼尔、田纳西·威廉斯和阿瑟·米勒之后美国第四位最伟大的剧作家。威尔逊用了二十余年的时间撰写了十部系列剧，每部剧以二十世纪每个十年为背景，反映那个十年中非裔美国人最普遍的问题。威尔逊不仅希望以此重新评价历史，更希望弘扬美国黑人文化。当非裔美国人面对社会不公和压迫时，是他们自己的种族文化使他们团结在一起，并赋予他们以力量。
英雄是某一特定文化身份的代言人，其行为有助于此文化的生存与发展。威尔逊的戏剧根植于美国黑人文化。在他创造的众多人物中，能够被称为英雄的是这样一些人：他们特立独行，以实际行动，或者至少具有强烈的意愿，挑战社会之不公，维护或保护黑人文化身份和文化价值体系，并以此直接或间接地推动小至家庭、社区，大至整个种族的黑人社会的发展。本文以卡尔顿·W·莫莱特和芭芭拉·W·莫莱特的美国黑人英雄评价框架和约翰·W·罗伯茨的有关美国黑人民间英雄的理论为主要理论参考，按照英雄解决问题的行为方式，将威尔逊已出版的九部剧中的黑人英雄分为四类加以分析：“不法”英雄、具有自觉意识的英雄、智者以及智慧的傻子。
威尔逊剧中的“不法”英雄与社区内外的种种不公做斗争。在白人掌权者的眼中，他们算不得侠盗罗宾汉，而是一无是处的罪犯。但是在黑人同胞眼中，他们代表了更高境界的正义、不屈不挠的反抗精神、受压迫被掠夺者的尊严、以及对文化价值的保护。威尔逊对“不法”英雄致以深深的敬意。他尊崇他们的勇士精神，但不赞成暴力和盲目的激愤。暴力并不是目的，也不是解决问题的最佳途径。尽管他们的本意是好的，但目的的正确不等于手段的合理。有时他们的一意孤行会带来严重后果。
当“不法”英雄处于绝境时，他们会求助于外部力量，而具有自觉意识的英雄则会向自身寻求力量。他们所进行的战斗是信念、智慧和毅力的较量。他们自身即明晰，或在进行一场艰苦的精神探寻后意识到，其在美国社会的自身价值，及该如何挖掘自身力量在艰难时局中生存发展。同时他们还帮助别人建立非裔美国人身份、挖掘自身潜力、发现自身在白人掌控的社会中的独特价值。
威尔逊剧中，作为普通人的现代英雄是不完美的。他们会经常犯判断上的错误或饱尝精神上的痛苦。他们需要有人指引他们走出迷宫，从困惑和迷惘中解放出来。智者承担了疗伤和引导的任务。他们具有岁月和经验铸就的良好的判断力和大智慧，是最受尊敬最伟大的英雄。智慧的傻子在威尔逊的戏剧中是另类的智者，但剧中人物往往由于无法理解他们模糊的暗示而与真理失之交臂。在结尾处，本文强调了威尔逊如同他创作的智者英雄一样堪称一位文学英雄。通过戏剧，他不仅给其黑人同胞以指导、抚平他们的创伤、赋予他们以力量，并且和所有接触他戏剧的观众和读者共同分享他的智慧。
With this dissertation, I intend to answer the following question: how African-American heroism that embodies African-American cultural values is manifested in the insignificant and oppressed African-American common men in August Wilson's 20th century cycle plays?
August Wilson is one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth century. Many critics and scholars believe Wilson is the fourth greatest playwright after Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. It took Wilson more than twenty years to write a series of ten plays. Each play is about one decade of the twentieth-century and conveys issues prevalent to African-American individuals during that period. Through the historical moments in his drama, Wilson hopes not only to reevaluate the past but to illuminate African-American culture that, in the face of social injustice and oppression, has united and empowered African-American people.
Hero, as a symbol of cultural identity, displays traits necessary for a culture to survive and thrive. Wilson anchors his drama in African-American culture. Of a good many characters in his oeuvre, the ones that can be crowned heroes are those who distinguish themselves in actions, or at least in their anxious intentions, to challenge social injustice or to maintain and protect the cultural identity and values, and thus directly or indirectly help African-American community, which can be as limited as a family or a neighborhood, or as extended as the whole race, to progress. According to the means that Wilson's heroes adopt to address their problems, this study, mainly based on Cartton W. and Barbara J. Molette's framework of African-American hero assessment and John W. Roberts' theory of African-American folk hero, considers four variants of the African-American hero in Wilson's nine published plays: outlaw-hero, self-conscious hero, sage and wise fool.
Wilson's outlaw-heroes strike against unfairness and constriction within and without African-American community. In the eyes of white authority, the outlaw-heroes are never Robin Hood, but worthless criminals, however, to African-American people, they subscribe to high ideals and represent unbending resistance to injustice, persistent pursuit of natural justice, dignity of the dispossessed and the oppressed, and protection of cultural values. Wilson pays tribute to his outlaw-heroes. What he admires and advocates is their warrior spirit, but not the violence or sullen rage manifested sometimes by the characters. For the outlaw-heroes in Wilson's works, violence is not the end and may not be the best way to solve their problems. Their intentions may be good, yet the end cannot justify the means. At times the heroes' single-mindedness can have serious consequences.
In Wilson's drama, while most outlaw-heroes, when trapped in desperation, resort to external forces for power, the self-conscious heroes turn to the interior. For self-conscious heroes, there is never any battle but a battle of faith, wisdom and resolution. They are, or become after tormenting soul-searching, clearly aware of their self-worth and their positions in American society, and know or get to know how to cope with the difficult world with the strength within. Some of them also help others establish an African-American identity, explore their innate strength and become aware of their own values in a white dominant society.
Wilson's modern heroes as common men are imperfect. From time to time they make mistakes in judgment, and more often than not they suffer from psychological trauma. They need someone to lead them out of the maze and free them from confusion and illusion. The role of healing and guiding is usually taken by the sage, who exhibits good judgment and profound wisdom that come with age and experience. As a wise, trusted and the most venerated guide and adviser, the sage is the greatest of Wilson's heroes. Wise fools serve as alternatives to sages. Unfortunately, people sometimes fail to take wise fools' obscure hints and hence miss the precious opportunities to see the truth. And by the end of this dissertation, August Wilson the playwright is evaluated as a literary hero who, like a sage, not only instructs, heals, and empowers his fellow African-Americans but also shares his wisdom with all his theatre audiences and readers alike.
引文
Abrahams, Roger D. Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia. Hatboro, Pa: Folklore, 1964.
Adell, Sandra. "Speaking of Ma Rainey/Talking about the Blues." May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson, ed. Alan Nadel. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994, 51-66.
Allen, James S. The Negro Question in the United States. London: Lawrence, 1936.
Alice, Mary. Videotaped lecture at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Watarford, Conn. April 15, 1993.
America, Richard F., ed. The Wealth of Races: The Present Value of Benefits from Past Injustices. New York: Greenwood P, 1990.
Anadolu-Okur, Nilgun. Contemporary African American Theatre: Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller. New York: Garland, 1997.
Anderson, Douglas. "Saying Goodbye to the Past: Self-Empowerment and History in Joe Turner Has Come and Gone." Contemporary Literary Criticisrn, Vol. 118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 413-421.
Aptheker, Herbert. Afro-American History: The Modem Era. Secaucus (NJ): Citadel Press, 1971.
Archer, Leonard C. Black Images in American Theatre. Nashville: Pageant, 1973.
Austin, Karen D. http://webpages.shepherd.edu/kaustin/208LMhero.htm, October 31, 2004.
Bartholomae, David. "Inventing the University." When A Writer Can't Write: Studies in Writer's Block and Other Composing-Process Problems. Ed. Mike Rose. New York: Guilford, 1985. 134-65.
Belton, Don, ed. Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity and the American Dream. Boston: Beacon, 1995.
Benston, Kimbedy W. Imamu Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones): a Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
Berlin, lra, Marc Favreau, and Seven F. Miller, eds. Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk about Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Freedom. New York: The New Press, 1998.
Berry, Mary, and John W. Blassingam. Long Memory: The Black Experience in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Bigsby, C. W. E. "Black Theatre." A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama: Beyond Broadway. Vol. 3. New York:Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985: 375-415.
Bimbaum, Michele. "Racial Hysteria: Female Pathology and Race Politics in Frances Harper's lola Leroy and W. D. Howells's An Imperative Duty." African American Review 33.1, 1999: 7-23.
Bissiri, Amadou. "Aspects of Africanness in August Wilson's Drama: Reading The Piano Lesson Through Wole Soyinka's Drama," African American Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, Spring, 1996: 99-113.
Blumental. Anna. "More Stories Than the Devil Got Sinners': Troy's Stories in August Wilson's Fences." American Drama 9:2, Spring 2000:74-96
Bogumil, Mary L. "'Tomorrow Never Comes': Songs of Cultural Identity in August Wilson's Joe Turner Has Come and Gone." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 390-397.
—. Understanding August Wilson. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.
Bommer, Lawrence. "A Keeper of Dreams." Chicago Tribune, 15 January, 1995: 16-21.
Booker, Margaret. Lillian Hellman and August Wilson. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.
Boyd, herb, and Robert L. Allen, eds. Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America. New York: One World, 1995.
Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
Brustein, Robert, "Subsidized Separatism," American Theatre, October 13, 1996: 27, 100-101.
Bryant, A. "The storyteller." The New Crisis., October 20, 2005.
Canby, Vincent. "Accidents of Fate and Faith." Rev. of Seven Guitars, by August Wilson. New York Times 25 Jan. 1995: C13.1.
—. "'Joe Turner' Displays Its Wizardry." Rev. of Joe Tumer's Come and Gone, by August Wilson. New York Times, Nov. 3, 1996: 11:5:5.
Carison, Marvin. Theories of the Theatre. Ethaca and London: Corneil University Press, 1984.
Carroll, Rebecca. Swing Low: Black Men Writing. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995.
Clark, Keith. Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines and August Wilson. Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
Cohen, Robert. Theatre. 5th ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 2000.
Courtlander, Harold. Negro Folk Music, U. S. A. New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.
Crawford, Eileen. "The Bb Burden: The Invisibility of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." August Wilson:A Casabook, ed. Madlyn Elkins. NY: Gadand Publishing Inc., 2000: 17-31.
Dalby, David. "The African Element in American English," in Rappin' and Stylin' Out. Communication in Urban Black America, ed. T. Kochman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.
DeVries, Hilary. "A Street-Corner Scribe of Life in Black America." Christian Science Monitor, March 27, 1987: 1, 8.
Diamond, Elin. Unmaking Mimesis: Essays on Feminism and Theater. New York: Routledge, 1997.
DiGeetani, John L. "Ed Bullins." A Search for a Postmodem Theater. Interviews with Contemporary Playwrights. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992: 39-46.
Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches 1903; reprinted New York: University of Virginia Library, 1989.
Dundss, Alan, ed. Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1990.
Dworkin, Norine. "Blood on the Tracks." American Theatre May 1990: 8-9.
Elam, Harry J., Jr. The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson. Ann Arbor, MI: The university of Michigan Press, 2004.
Ellison, Ralph. Shadow and Act. New York: Random, 1964.
Eltis, David. "The Volume and Structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Reassessment." William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 1, January, 2001.
Emery, Lynne Fauley. Black Dance in the United States from 1619 to 1970. New York: National Press Books, 1972.
Fishman, Joan. "Romare Bearden, August Wilson, and the Traditions of African Performance." May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Dreme of August Wilson, ed. Alan Nadel. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994, 133-149.
Fishwick, Marshall W. Seven Pillars of Popular Culture. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1985.
Fleche, Anne. "The History Lesson: Authenticity and Anachronism in August Wilson's Plays." May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson, ed. Alan Nadel. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994, 9-20.
Fligstein, Neil. Going North, Migration of Blacks and Whites from the South, 1900-1950. New York: Academic Press, 1981.
Floyd, Samuel A., "Ring Shout," Black Music Research Journal, Fall 1991: 265-287.
Fluker, Elayne. "King Hedley Ⅱ." Essence. Vol.32, Iss. 4. August 2001: 58.
Frazier, E. Franklin. The Negro Family in the United States. Chicago: The university of Chicago Press, 1939.
Freedman, Samuel. "A Voice from the Streets." New York Times Magazine, March 15, 1987: 36-50.
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1957.
Gaines, Kevin Kelly. Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
Gantt, Patricia. "Ghosts from 'Down There': The Southemness of August Wilson." August Wilson:A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 69-88.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. "The Chitlin Circuit." New Yorker 3 February. 1997: 44+.
—. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Gayle, Addison, ed. The Black Aesthetic. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1971.
Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993.
Girard, Rene. Deceit, Desire, and the Novel: Self and Other in Uterary Structure. Trans. Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1965.
Goldman, Jeffrey. "Think of History as One Long Blues Tune: August Wilson." Dramatics April, 1990: 12-17.
Grier, William H., and Price M. Cobbs. Black Rage. New York: Basic, 1968.
Grossman, James R. Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Gundaker, Grey. "Discussion: Creolization, Complexity, and Time" Historical Archaeology 34(3) 2000: 124-133.
—. Signs of Diaspora/Diaspora of Signs: Literacies, Creolization, and Vernacular Practice in African America. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Hanson, Erica. A Cultural History of the United Stages, Through the Decades: the 1920s. San Diego:Lucent Books, 1999.
Hareven, Tamara, and Stephen Themstrom, eds. Pittsburgh: Documentary History of American Cities. New York: New Viewpints, 1976.
Harris, Trudier. "August Wilson's Folk Traditions." August Wilson: A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 49-68.
Harrison, Paul Carter. "August Wilson's Blues Poetics." Three Plays, by August Wilson. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991, 291-317.
Hay, Samuel. African American Theatre: An Historical and Critical Analysis. Massachusetts: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994.
"Hero.", August 28, 2005.
Herrington, Joan. I Ain't Sorry For Nothin I Done: August Wilson's Playwrighting Process. New York: Limelight, 1998.
Herskovits, Melville J. The Myth of the Negro Past. Second edition. Boston: Beacon Press, 1990 [1941].
Hill, Errol, ed. The Theatre of Bleck Americans. New York: Applause Theatre, 1980.
Holloway, Joseph E, ed. Africanisms in American Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
Holway, John B. Blackball Stars: Negro League Pioneers. Westport (CT): Meckler Books, 1988.
hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routiedge, 1994.
Homsby, Alton, Jr. Chronology of African American History: From 1492 to the Present. 2nd. Detroit: Gale, 1997.
Hughes, Langston, and Ama Bontemps. Book of Negro Folklore. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1958.
Hurston, Zora Neale. "High John de Conqueror." Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings. New York: Library of America, 1995: 922-31.
Keller, James R. "The Shaman's Apprentice: Ecstasy and Economy in Wilson's Joe Turner," African-American Review, Vol. 35, Fall, 2001: 471-479.
Kendt, Rob. "Carrying Voices." Back Stage West, Vol. 10, Iss 31, July 32, 2003: 10.
King, Woodie, Jr. Black Theatre, Present Condition. New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1981.
Klein, Herbert S. The Middle Passage: Comparative Studies in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Princeton (NJ): Princaton University Press, 1978.
Kochman, Thomas. "Toward an Ethnography of Black Amedcan Speech Behavior." Rappin' and Stylin' Out: Communication in Urban Black America. Ed. Thomas Kochman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972. 241-64.
Koprince, Susan. "Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson's Fences." African American Review, 2006 Summer, 40:2: 349-58.
Labov, William. Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vemacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.
Lahr, John. "Been Here and Gone: How August Wilson Rrought a Century of Black American Culture to the Stage." New Yorker, April 16, 2001: 50-65.
—. "Black and Blues." New Yorker, April 15, 1996: 99-101.
Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture, Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1977, 3-5.
Lieb, Sandra R. Mother of the Blues: a Study of Ma Rainey. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.
Littlefield, Daniel C. Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina. Chicago and Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
Locke, Alain. "The Negro and the American Stage." Theatre Arts Monthly, February. 1926: 112-120.
Jones, James E. "August Wilson: His Poetic Plays about African-American life offer Plainspoken Truths that Transcend Race." Time, July 9, 2001: 84.
Lurker, Manfred. Worterbuch der Symbolik. Stuttgart:: Kroner, 1987.
Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Ballatine, 1965.
Marquis, Donald M. In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978.
Mead, Chris. Champion—Joe Louis: Black Hero in White America. New York: Scribner's, 1985.
Miller, Arthur. "Tragedy and the Common Man." The HBJ Anthology of Drama. Ed. W. B. Worthen. Odando: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993, 713-714.
Miller, Dean A. The Epic Hero. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Mills, Alice. "The Walking Blues: An Anthropological Approach to the Theater of August Wilson." Black Scholar, Vol. 25, No. 2, Spring, 1995: 30-35.
Mintz, Sidney W. and Richard Price. The Birth of African-American Culture: An Anthropological Perspective. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.
Molette, Cadton W. and Barbara J. Molette. Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation, 2nd ed. Bristol: Wyndham Hall Press, 1992.
Monaco, Pamela Jean. "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: From the Local to the Mythical in August Wilson." August Wilson: A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 89-104.
Nadel, Alan, ed. May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994.
Newby, I. A. The Development of Segregationist Thought. Homewood (IL): The Dorsey Press, 1968.
Nunns, Stephen, 'Wilson, Brustein and the Press," American Theatre, 14, No. 3, March 1997: 17-19.
O'Meally, Robert, ed. History and Memory in African American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
—. "On Burke and the Vernacular: Ralph Ellison's Boomerang of History." History and Memory in African American Culture. Ed. Genevieve Fabre and Robert O'Meally. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994: 244-60.
Peck, James. Freedom Ride. New York: Grove Press, 1962.
Phillips, Melanie Ann. "Hero is a Four-Letter Word: Unmasking the Hero.", October 20, 2005.
Plummer, William. "Street Talk: Hearing Voices Makes Playwright August Wilson the Talent He is." People Weekly, May13, 1996: 63.
Poinsstt, Alex. "August Wilson: Hottest New Playwright." Ebony ⅩLⅢ, No. 1, November 1987: 68, 70, 72, 74.
Rich, Frank. "August Wilson Reaches the '60s With Witness from a Distance." Rev. of Two Trains Running, by August Wilson. New York Times, April 14, 1992: 139-40.
—. Rev. of Joe Tumer's Come end Gone, by August Wilson. New York Times, May 6,1986: C17:2.
—. Rev. of Two Trains Running, by August Wilson. New York Times, April 14, 1992: C13:4.
—. "Riffs From the Past." Rev. of The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson. New York Times, April 17, 1990: C13:4.
—. "Where Writers Mold the Future of Theater." Rev. of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, by August Wilson. New York Times, August 1, 1982: 11:1:1.
Richards, Sandra. "Writing the Absent Potential: Drama, Performance, and the Canon of African-American Literature." Performativity and Performance. Ed. Andrew Parker and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. New York: Routledge, 1995:64-88.
—. "Yoruba Gods on the American Stage: August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone." Research in African Literatures, 30.4, 1999: 92-105.
Roberts, John W. From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
Robinson, Jackie. I Never Had It Made. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1972.
Roche, Mark William. "Black Madness in the Rays of August Wilson." Madness in Drama. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993: 191-201.
Rogosin, Donn. Invisible Men: Life in Baseball's Negro Leagues. New York: Atheneum, 1983.
Rothstein, Mervyn. "Round Five for the Theatrical Heavyweight." New York Times, Section 2, April 15, 1990:8.
Rousuck, J. Wynn. "People with Vision." Baltimore Sun, April 27, 1997.1E.
Saltzman, Simon, and Nicole Plett. "'Jitney' at Crossroads." U. S. 1 Newspaper, April 16, 1997.
Sanders, Leslie Catherine. The Development of Black Theater in America: From Shadows to Selves. Baton Rogue: Louisiana State University Press, 1988.
Saunders, James. "Essential Ambiguities in the Plays of August Wilson." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 397-403.
Shafer, Yvonne. "Breaking Barriers: August Wilson." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 403-411.
Shannon, Sandra G. "Evolution or Revolution in Black Theater: A Look at the Cultural Nationalist Agenda in Select Plays by Amiri Baraka." African American Review, Summer-Fall, 2003.
—. The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson. Washington: Howard University Press, 1995.
—. "The Good Christian's Come and Gone: The Shifting Role of Christianity in August Wilson Plays." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 379-387.
Sheward, David. Rev. of Seven Guitars, by August Wilson. Back Stage, April 5. 1996: 5.
Shutte, Augustine. Philosophy for Africa. Rodenbosch: University of Cape Town Press, 1993.
Smitherman, Geneva. "Word from the African-American Community." African-American Literary Criticism, 1773 to 2000. Ed. Hazel Amett Ervin. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999. 400-411.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. August Wilson: A Literary Companion. Jefferson, NC: McFariand & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2004.
Soyinka, Wole. Myth, Literature and the African World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Staples, Brent. "August Wilson." Essence 18, No. 4, August 1987: 51, 111, 113.
Stuckey, Sterling. Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Tallmer, Jerry. "Fences: Anguish of Wasted Talent." New York Post, March 261987, C4.
Taylor, Regina. "That's why They Call It the Blues." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 411-413.
Thornton, John. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Toomer, Jeanette. "August Wilson: Uniting Playwrights and Writing Again." Back Stage 22, Aug 1997: 34.
Ture, Kwame, and Charles V. Hamilton. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. 2nd ED. New York: Vintage, 1992.
Turner, Victor, The Ritual Process. Harmondsworth, England: Pelican, 1974.
Usekes, Cigdem. "'We's the leftovers': whiteness as economic power and exploitation in August Wilson's twentieth-century cycle of plays." African American Review, Vol. 37, Spring, 2003: 115-124.
Van Deburg, William L. Black Camelot: African-American Culture Heroes in Their Times, 1960-1980. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Verges, Francois. "Chains of Madness, Chains of Colonialism: Fanon and Freedom." The Fact of Blackness: Frantz Fanon and Visual Representation. Ed. Alan Read. Seattle: Bay Press, 1996.46-75.
Wang, Qun. An In-Depth Study of the Major Plays of African-American Playwright August Wilson: Vernacularizing the Blues on Stage. Lewiston, N. Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999.
Weiss, Hedy, "Wilson's 'Guitars' Reverberates to the Sound of Black Life." Chicago Sun-Times, SHOW Section, January 22, 1995:1.
Whitaker, Charles. "Is August Wilson America's Greatest Playwright?" Ebony Sept. 2001: 80-90.
Williams, Mance. Black Theatre in the 1960s and 1970s: An Historical-Critical Analysis of the Movement. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985.
Wilde, Lisa. "Reclaiming the Past: Narrative and Memory in August Wilson's Two Trains Running." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 387-388.
Williams, Dana A. "Making the Bones Live Again: A Look at the 'Bones People' in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Henry Dumas's 'Ark of Bones'." CLA Journal 42.3, Mar 1999: 309-20.
Williams, Tennessee. "The Timeless World of a Play." Two Modem American Tragedies. Ed. John D. Hurrell. New York: Scribner, 1961.49-52.
Wilson, August. "Acclaimed playwright works on the final installment of 10-play cycle." Interview by Karen D'Souza., February 16, 2004 pNA.
—. "American Shakespeare" Interview conducted by Gwen Ifill. PBS News, April 6, 2001., August 30, 2005.
—. "An August Tradition." Interview by Jayne M. Blanchard. St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 4, 1993:10F.
—. "An Interview with August Wilson." By Kim Powers. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 372-375.
—. "August Wilson." Interview conducted by Roger Downey. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004, CD-ROM.
—. "August Wilson: an Interview." By Vera Sheppard. National Forum, Vol. 70, No. 3, June 22, 1990.
—. "August Wilson Interview." By John C. Tibbetts. Literature/Film Quarterly, Vol. 30, Iss. 4, 2002., August 18, 2005.
—. "August Wilson, Playwright." Interview conducted by Bill Moyers. A World of ideas: Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women about American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future. Ed. Betty Sue Flowers. New York: Doubleday, 1989. 167-180.
—. "August Wilson: The art of theater ⅩⅣ." Interview by George Plimpton. The Paris Review, Winter 1999:67-94.
—. "Blues, history, and the dramaturgy of August Wilson." Interview conducted by Sandra Shannon. African American Review, Winter 1993: 561-567.
—. Fences, The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
—. Gem of the Ocean. New York: Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 2006.
—. "How to Write a Play Like August Wilson." New York Times, March 10, 1991:H5, H17.
—. "Interview with August Wilson." By David Savran. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. 1313-1315.
—. "Interview with August Wilson." By EGG., August 18, 2005.
—. Jitney. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 2002.
—. Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Anthology of Living Theatre. Ed. Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
—. King Hedley Ⅱ. New York: Theatre Communication Group, 2005.
—. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Modem and Contemporary Drama. Ed. Midam Gilbert, Carl H Klaus, and Bradford S. Field, Jr. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993: 742-772.
—. "Men, Woman, and Culture: A Conversation with August Wilson." By Nathan L. Grant. American Drama, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1996:100-122.
—. "On Listening." Interview conducted by Susan Johann. American Theatre, April 1996.
—. Seven Guitars. New York: Dutton Book, 1996.
—. "The Ground on Which I Stand.", March 21, 2005.
—. "The Historical Perspective: An Interview with August Wilson." By Richard Pettengill. August Wilson: A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 235-257.
—. "The Legacy of Malcolm X." Life. Vol.15, Iss. 14, Dec. 1992: 84-94.
—. "The Light in August." Interview by Suzan-Lori Parks., February 24, 2006.
—. The Piano Lesson. New York: Plume, 1990.
—. Two Trains Running. New York: Plume, 1993.
—. "Why the Decade Cycle?" New York Times, April 12, 1992:H5.
Woff, Matt. "Wilson Sings Singular Tune on Broadway." Variety, February 26, 1996: 175.
Woffe, Peter. August Wilson. New York: Twayne, 1999.
Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Caraer of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.
Adell, Sandra. "Speaking of Ma Rainey/Talking about the Blues." May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson, ed. Alan Nadel. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994, 51-66.
Allen, James S. The Negro Question in the United States. London: Lawrence, 1936.
Alice, Mary. Videotaped lecture at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Watarford, Conn. April 15, 1993.
America, Richard F., ed. The Wealth of Races: The Present Value of Benefits from Past Injustices. New York: Greenwood P, 1990.
Anadolu-Okur, Nilgun. Contemporary African American Theatre: Afrocentricity in the Works of Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, and Charles Fuller. New York: Garland, 1997.
Anderson, Douglas. "Saying Goodbye to the Past: Self-Empowerment and History in Joe Turner Has Come and Gone." Contemporary Literary Criticisrn, Vol. 118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 413-421.
Aptheker, Herbert. Afro-American History: The Modem Era. Secaucus (NJ): Citadel Press, 1971.
Archer, Leonard C. Black Images in American Theatre. Nashville: Pageant, 1973.
Austin, Karen D. http://webpages.shepherd.edu/kaustin/208LMhero.htm, October 31, 2004.
Bartholomae, David. "Inventing the University." When A Writer Can't Write: Studies in Writer's Block and Other Composing-Process Problems. Ed. Mike Rose. New York: Guilford, 1985. 134-65.
Belton, Don, ed. Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity and the American Dream. Boston: Beacon, 1995.
Benston, Kimbedy W. Imamu Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones): a Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
Berlin, lra, Marc Favreau, and Seven F. Miller, eds. Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk about Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Freedom. New York: The New Press, 1998.
Berry, Mary, and John W. Blassingam. Long Memory: The Black Experience in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Bigsby, C. W. E. "Black Theatre." A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama: Beyond Broadway. Vol. 3. New York:Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985: 375-415.
Bimbaum, Michele. "Racial Hysteria: Female Pathology and Race Politics in Frances Harper's lola Leroy and W. D. Howells's An Imperative Duty." African American Review 33.1, 1999: 7-23.
Bissiri, Amadou. "Aspects of Africanness in August Wilson's Drama: Reading The Piano Lesson Through Wole Soyinka's Drama," African American Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, Spring, 1996: 99-113.
Blumental. Anna. "More Stories Than the Devil Got Sinners': Troy's Stories in August Wilson's Fences." American Drama 9:2, Spring 2000:74-96
Bogumil, Mary L. "'Tomorrow Never Comes': Songs of Cultural Identity in August Wilson's Joe Turner Has Come and Gone." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 390-397.
—. Understanding August Wilson. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.
Bommer, Lawrence. "A Keeper of Dreams." Chicago Tribune, 15 January, 1995: 16-21.
Booker, Margaret. Lillian Hellman and August Wilson. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.
Boyd, herb, and Robert L. Allen, eds. Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America. New York: One World, 1995.
Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
Brustein, Robert, "Subsidized Separatism," American Theatre, October 13, 1996: 27, 100-101.
Bryant, A. "The storyteller." The New Crisis.
Canby, Vincent. "Accidents of Fate and Faith." Rev. of Seven Guitars, by August Wilson. New York Times 25 Jan. 1995: C13.1.
—. "'Joe Turner' Displays Its Wizardry." Rev. of Joe Tumer's Come and Gone, by August Wilson. New York Times, Nov. 3, 1996: 11:5:5.
Carison, Marvin. Theories of the Theatre. Ethaca and London: Corneil University Press, 1984.
Carroll, Rebecca. Swing Low: Black Men Writing. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995.
Clark, Keith. Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines and August Wilson. Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
Cohen, Robert. Theatre. 5th ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 2000.
Courtlander, Harold. Negro Folk Music, U. S. A. New York: Columbia University Press, 1963.
Crawford, Eileen. "The Bb Burden: The Invisibility of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." August Wilson:A Casabook, ed. Madlyn Elkins. NY: Gadand Publishing Inc., 2000: 17-31.
Dalby, David. "The African Element in American English," in Rappin' and Stylin' Out. Communication in Urban Black America, ed. T. Kochman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.
DeVries, Hilary. "A Street-Corner Scribe of Life in Black America." Christian Science Monitor, March 27, 1987: 1, 8.
Diamond, Elin. Unmaking Mimesis: Essays on Feminism and Theater. New York: Routledge, 1997.
DiGeetani, John L. "Ed Bullins." A Search for a Postmodem Theater. Interviews with Contemporary Playwrights. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992: 39-46.
Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches 1903; reprinted New York: University of Virginia Library, 1989.
Dundss, Alan, ed. Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel: Readings in the Interpretation of Afro-American Folklore. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1990.
Dworkin, Norine. "Blood on the Tracks." American Theatre May 1990: 8-9.
Elam, Harry J., Jr. The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson. Ann Arbor, MI: The university of Michigan Press, 2004.
Ellison, Ralph. Shadow and Act. New York: Random, 1964.
Eltis, David. "The Volume and Structure of the Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Reassessment." William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 1, January, 2001.
Emery, Lynne Fauley. Black Dance in the United States from 1619 to 1970. New York: National Press Books, 1972.
Fishman, Joan. "Romare Bearden, August Wilson, and the Traditions of African Performance." May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Dreme of August Wilson, ed. Alan Nadel. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994, 133-149.
Fishwick, Marshall W. Seven Pillars of Popular Culture. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1985.
Fleche, Anne. "The History Lesson: Authenticity and Anachronism in August Wilson's Plays." May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson, ed. Alan Nadel. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994, 9-20.
Fligstein, Neil. Going North, Migration of Blacks and Whites from the South, 1900-1950. New York: Academic Press, 1981.
Floyd, Samuel A., "Ring Shout," Black Music Research Journal, Fall 1991: 265-287.
Fluker, Elayne. "King Hedley Ⅱ." Essence. Vol.32, Iss. 4. August 2001: 58.
Frazier, E. Franklin. The Negro Family in the United States. Chicago: The university of Chicago Press, 1939.
Freedman, Samuel. "A Voice from the Streets." New York Times Magazine, March 15, 1987: 36-50.
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1957.
Gaines, Kevin Kelly. Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
Gantt, Patricia. "Ghosts from 'Down There': The Southemness of August Wilson." August Wilson:A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 69-88.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. "The Chitlin Circuit." New Yorker 3 February. 1997: 44+.
—. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Gayle, Addison, ed. The Black Aesthetic. Garden City, NY: Anchor, 1971.
Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993.
Girard, Rene. Deceit, Desire, and the Novel: Self and Other in Uterary Structure. Trans. Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1965.
Goldman, Jeffrey. "Think of History as One Long Blues Tune: August Wilson." Dramatics April, 1990: 12-17.
Grier, William H., and Price M. Cobbs. Black Rage. New York: Basic, 1968.
Grossman, James R. Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Gundaker, Grey. "Discussion: Creolization, Complexity, and Time" Historical Archaeology 34(3) 2000: 124-133.
—. Signs of Diaspora/Diaspora of Signs: Literacies, Creolization, and Vernacular Practice in African America. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Hanson, Erica. A Cultural History of the United Stages, Through the Decades: the 1920s. San Diego:Lucent Books, 1999.
Hareven, Tamara, and Stephen Themstrom, eds. Pittsburgh: Documentary History of American Cities. New York: New Viewpints, 1976.
Harris, Trudier. "August Wilson's Folk Traditions." August Wilson: A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 49-68.
Harrison, Paul Carter. "August Wilson's Blues Poetics." Three Plays, by August Wilson. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991, 291-317.
Hay, Samuel. African American Theatre: An Historical and Critical Analysis. Massachusetts: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994.
"Hero."
Herrington, Joan. I Ain't Sorry For Nothin I Done: August Wilson's Playwrighting Process. New York: Limelight, 1998.
Herskovits, Melville J. The Myth of the Negro Past. Second edition. Boston: Beacon Press, 1990 [1941].
Hill, Errol, ed. The Theatre of Bleck Americans. New York: Applause Theatre, 1980.
Holloway, Joseph E, ed. Africanisms in American Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
Holway, John B. Blackball Stars: Negro League Pioneers. Westport (CT): Meckler Books, 1988.
hooks, bell. Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations. New York: Routiedge, 1994.
Homsby, Alton, Jr. Chronology of African American History: From 1492 to the Present. 2nd. Detroit: Gale, 1997.
Hughes, Langston, and Ama Bontemps. Book of Negro Folklore. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1958.
Hurston, Zora Neale. "High John de Conqueror." Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings. New York: Library of America, 1995: 922-31.
Keller, James R. "The Shaman's Apprentice: Ecstasy and Economy in Wilson's Joe Turner," African-American Review, Vol. 35, Fall, 2001: 471-479.
Kendt, Rob. "Carrying Voices." Back Stage West, Vol. 10, Iss 31, July 32, 2003: 10.
King, Woodie, Jr. Black Theatre, Present Condition. New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources, 1981.
Klein, Herbert S. The Middle Passage: Comparative Studies in the Atlantic Slave Trade. Princeton (NJ): Princaton University Press, 1978.
Kochman, Thomas. "Toward an Ethnography of Black Amedcan Speech Behavior." Rappin' and Stylin' Out: Communication in Urban Black America. Ed. Thomas Kochman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972. 241-64.
Koprince, Susan. "Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson's Fences." African American Review, 2006 Summer, 40:2: 349-58.
Labov, William. Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vemacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1972.
Lahr, John. "Been Here and Gone: How August Wilson Rrought a Century of Black American Culture to the Stage." New Yorker, April 16, 2001: 50-65.
—. "Black and Blues." New Yorker, April 15, 1996: 99-101.
Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture, Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1977, 3-5.
Lieb, Sandra R. Mother of the Blues: a Study of Ma Rainey. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.
Littlefield, Daniel C. Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina. Chicago and Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.
Locke, Alain. "The Negro and the American Stage." Theatre Arts Monthly, February. 1926: 112-120.
Jones, James E. "August Wilson: His Poetic Plays about African-American life offer Plainspoken Truths that Transcend Race." Time, July 9, 2001: 84.
Lurker, Manfred. Worterbuch der Symbolik. Stuttgart:: Kroner, 1987.
Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Ballatine, 1965.
Marquis, Donald M. In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978.
Mead, Chris. Champion—Joe Louis: Black Hero in White America. New York: Scribner's, 1985.
Miller, Arthur. "Tragedy and the Common Man." The HBJ Anthology of Drama. Ed. W. B. Worthen. Odando: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993, 713-714.
Miller, Dean A. The Epic Hero. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Mills, Alice. "The Walking Blues: An Anthropological Approach to the Theater of August Wilson." Black Scholar, Vol. 25, No. 2, Spring, 1995: 30-35.
Mintz, Sidney W. and Richard Price. The Birth of African-American Culture: An Anthropological Perspective. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992.
Molette, Cadton W. and Barbara J. Molette. Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation, 2nd ed. Bristol: Wyndham Hall Press, 1992.
Monaco, Pamela Jean. "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: From the Local to the Mythical in August Wilson." August Wilson: A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 89-104.
Nadel, Alan, ed. May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1994.
Newby, I. A. The Development of Segregationist Thought. Homewood (IL): The Dorsey Press, 1968.
Nunns, Stephen, 'Wilson, Brustein and the Press," American Theatre, 14, No. 3, March 1997: 17-19.
O'Meally, Robert, ed. History and Memory in African American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
—. "On Burke and the Vernacular: Ralph Ellison's Boomerang of History." History and Memory in African American Culture. Ed. Genevieve Fabre and Robert O'Meally. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994: 244-60.
Peck, James. Freedom Ride. New York: Grove Press, 1962.
Phillips, Melanie Ann. "Hero is a Four-Letter Word: Unmasking the Hero."
Plummer, William. "Street Talk: Hearing Voices Makes Playwright August Wilson the Talent He is." People Weekly, May13, 1996: 63.
Poinsstt, Alex. "August Wilson: Hottest New Playwright." Ebony ⅩLⅢ, No. 1, November 1987: 68, 70, 72, 74.
Rich, Frank. "August Wilson Reaches the '60s With Witness from a Distance." Rev. of Two Trains Running, by August Wilson. New York Times, April 14, 1992: 139-40.
—. Rev. of Joe Tumer's Come end Gone, by August Wilson. New York Times, May 6,1986: C17:2.
—. Rev. of Two Trains Running, by August Wilson. New York Times, April 14, 1992: C13:4.
—. "Riffs From the Past." Rev. of The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson. New York Times, April 17, 1990: C13:4.
—. "Where Writers Mold the Future of Theater." Rev. of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, by August Wilson. New York Times, August 1, 1982: 11:1:1.
Richards, Sandra. "Writing the Absent Potential: Drama, Performance, and the Canon of African-American Literature." Performativity and Performance. Ed. Andrew Parker and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. New York: Routledge, 1995:64-88.
—. "Yoruba Gods on the American Stage: August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone." Research in African Literatures, 30.4, 1999: 92-105.
Roberts, John W. From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
Robinson, Jackie. I Never Had It Made. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1972.
Roche, Mark William. "Black Madness in the Rays of August Wilson." Madness in Drama. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993: 191-201.
Rogosin, Donn. Invisible Men: Life in Baseball's Negro Leagues. New York: Atheneum, 1983.
Rothstein, Mervyn. "Round Five for the Theatrical Heavyweight." New York Times, Section 2, April 15, 1990:8.
Rousuck, J. Wynn. "People with Vision." Baltimore Sun, April 27, 1997.1E.
Saltzman, Simon, and Nicole Plett. "'Jitney' at Crossroads." U. S. 1 Newspaper, April 16, 1997.
Sanders, Leslie Catherine. The Development of Black Theater in America: From Shadows to Selves. Baton Rogue: Louisiana State University Press, 1988.
Saunders, James. "Essential Ambiguities in the Plays of August Wilson." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 397-403.
Shafer, Yvonne. "Breaking Barriers: August Wilson." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 403-411.
Shannon, Sandra G. "Evolution or Revolution in Black Theater: A Look at the Cultural Nationalist Agenda in Select Plays by Amiri Baraka." African American Review, Summer-Fall, 2003.
—. The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson. Washington: Howard University Press, 1995.
—. "The Good Christian's Come and Gone: The Shifting Role of Christianity in August Wilson Plays." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 379-387.
Sheward, David. Rev. of Seven Guitars, by August Wilson. Back Stage, April 5. 1996: 5.
Shutte, Augustine. Philosophy for Africa. Rodenbosch: University of Cape Town Press, 1993.
Smitherman, Geneva. "Word from the African-American Community." African-American Literary Criticism, 1773 to 2000. Ed. Hazel Amett Ervin. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999. 400-411.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. August Wilson: A Literary Companion. Jefferson, NC: McFariand & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2004.
Soyinka, Wole. Myth, Literature and the African World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Staples, Brent. "August Wilson." Essence 18, No. 4, August 1987: 51, 111, 113.
Stuckey, Sterling. Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Tallmer, Jerry. "Fences: Anguish of Wasted Talent." New York Post, March 261987, C4.
Taylor, Regina. "That's why They Call It the Blues." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 411-413.
Thornton, John. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Toomer, Jeanette. "August Wilson: Uniting Playwrights and Writing Again." Back Stage 22, Aug 1997: 34.
Ture, Kwame, and Charles V. Hamilton. Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. 2nd ED. New York: Vintage, 1992.
Turner, Victor, The Ritual Process. Harmondsworth, England: Pelican, 1974.
Usekes, Cigdem. "'We's the leftovers': whiteness as economic power and exploitation in August Wilson's twentieth-century cycle of plays." African American Review, Vol. 37, Spring, 2003: 115-124.
Van Deburg, William L. Black Camelot: African-American Culture Heroes in Their Times, 1960-1980. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Verges, Francois. "Chains of Madness, Chains of Colonialism: Fanon and Freedom." The Fact of Blackness: Frantz Fanon and Visual Representation. Ed. Alan Read. Seattle: Bay Press, 1996.46-75.
Wang, Qun. An In-Depth Study of the Major Plays of African-American Playwright August Wilson: Vernacularizing the Blues on Stage. Lewiston, N. Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999.
Weiss, Hedy, "Wilson's 'Guitars' Reverberates to the Sound of Black Life." Chicago Sun-Times, SHOW Section, January 22, 1995:1.
Whitaker, Charles. "Is August Wilson America's Greatest Playwright?" Ebony Sept. 2001: 80-90.
Williams, Mance. Black Theatre in the 1960s and 1970s: An Historical-Critical Analysis of the Movement. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985.
Wilde, Lisa. "Reclaiming the Past: Narrative and Memory in August Wilson's Two Trains Running." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 387-388.
Williams, Dana A. "Making the Bones Live Again: A Look at the 'Bones People' in August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Henry Dumas's 'Ark of Bones'." CLA Journal 42.3, Mar 1999: 309-20.
Williams, Tennessee. "The Timeless World of a Play." Two Modem American Tragedies. Ed. John D. Hurrell. New York: Scribner, 1961.49-52.
Wilson, August. "Acclaimed playwright works on the final installment of 10-play cycle." Interview by Karen D'Souza.
—. "American Shakespeare" Interview conducted by Gwen Ifill. PBS News, April 6, 2001.
—. "An August Tradition." Interview by Jayne M. Blanchard. St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 4, 1993:10F.
—. "An Interview with August Wilson." By Kim Powers. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol.118. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Timothy J. White. Detroit: The Gale Group, 1999. 372-375.
—. "August Wilson." Interview conducted by Roger Downey. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2004, CD-ROM.
—. "August Wilson: an Interview." By Vera Sheppard. National Forum, Vol. 70, No. 3, June 22, 1990.
—. "August Wilson Interview." By John C. Tibbetts. Literature/Film Quarterly, Vol. 30, Iss. 4, 2002.
—. "August Wilson, Playwright." Interview conducted by Bill Moyers. A World of ideas: Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women about American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future. Ed. Betty Sue Flowers. New York: Doubleday, 1989. 167-180.
—. "August Wilson: The art of theater ⅩⅣ." Interview by George Plimpton. The Paris Review, Winter 1999:67-94.
—. "Blues, history, and the dramaturgy of August Wilson." Interview conducted by Sandra Shannon. African American Review, Winter 1993: 561-567.
—. Fences, The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
—. Gem of the Ocean. New York: Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 2006.
—. "How to Write a Play Like August Wilson." New York Times, March 10, 1991:H5, H17.
—. "Interview with August Wilson." By David Savran. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. 1313-1315.
—. "Interview with August Wilson." By EGG.
—. Jitney. New York: Samuel French, Inc., 2002.
—. Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Anthology of Living Theatre. Ed. Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.
—. King Hedley Ⅱ. New York: Theatre Communication Group, 2005.
—. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Modem and Contemporary Drama. Ed. Midam Gilbert, Carl H Klaus, and Bradford S. Field, Jr. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993: 742-772.
—. "Men, Woman, and Culture: A Conversation with August Wilson." By Nathan L. Grant. American Drama, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1996:100-122.
—. "On Listening." Interview conducted by Susan Johann. American Theatre, April 1996.
—. Seven Guitars. New York: Dutton Book, 1996.
—. "The Ground on Which I Stand."
—. "The Historical Perspective: An Interview with August Wilson." By Richard Pettengill. August Wilson: A Casebook, ed. Marilyn Elkins. NY: Garland Publishing Inc., 2000, 235-257.
—. "The Legacy of Malcolm X." Life. Vol.15, Iss. 14, Dec. 1992: 84-94.
—. "The Light in August." Interview by Suzan-Lori Parks.
—. The Piano Lesson. New York: Plume, 1990.
—. Two Trains Running. New York: Plume, 1993.
—. "Why the Decade Cycle?" New York Times, April 12, 1992:H5.
Woff, Matt. "Wilson Sings Singular Tune on Broadway." Variety, February 26, 1996: 175.
Woffe, Peter. August Wilson. New York: Twayne, 1999.
Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Caraer of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.