{"product_id":"conversations-with-august-wilson-9781578068319","title":"Conversations with August Wilson","description":"In little more than twenty years, playwright August Wilson (1945-2005) completed a ten-play cycle depicting African American life in the twentieth century, with each play taking place in a different decade. Two of the plays--\u003ci\u003eFences\u003c\/i\u003e (1987) and \u003ci\u003eThe Piano Lesson\u003c\/i\u003e (1990)--were awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and seven of them received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best American play. Wilson was indisputably the most significant American playwright to emerge since Edward Albee. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eConversations with August Wilson\u003c\/i\u003e collects a selection of the many interviews Wilson gave from 1984 to 2004. In the interviews, the playwright covers at length and in detail his plays and his background. He comments as well on such subjects as the differences between African Americans and whites, his call for more black theater companies, and his belief that African Americans made a mistake in assimilating themselves into the white mainstream. He also talks about his major influences, what he calls his \"four B's\"--the blues, writers James Baldwin and Amiri Baraka, and painter Romare Bearden. Wilson also discusses his writing process and his multiple collaborations with director Lloyd Richards. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Throughout, Wilson is candid, expansive, and provocative, displaying in these exchanges his willingness to confront controversial topics just as he did in his plays.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJackson R. Bryer \u003c\/b\u003eis professor emeritus of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is editor of \u003ci\u003eConversations with Lillian Hellman\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eConversations with Thornton Wilder \u003c\/i\u003eand coeditor of \u003ci\u003eConversations with Sam Shepard \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eConversations with Neil Simon\u003c\/i\u003e, all published in the University Press of Mississippi's Literary Conversations Series. \u003cb\u003eMary C. Hartig\u003c\/b\u003e is coeditor of \u003ci\u003eConversations with Sam Shepard\u003c\/i\u003e (published by University Press of Mississippi) and \u003ci\u003eWilliam Inge: Essays and Reminiscences on the Plays and the Man \u003c\/i\u003eand coauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Facts on File\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eCompanion to American Drama\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University Press of Mississippi","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50357070135570,"sku":"9781578068319","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c79363cb-d045-4ad4-a549-8898d82cbe35.jpg?v=1728316538","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/conversations-with-august-wilson-9781578068319","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}