May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson

284 Pages·1994·17.881 MB·English

by  Alan Nadel

MAY ALL YOUR FENCES HAVE GATES
MayAll
Your
UII
University ofIowa Press Iowa City
Fences Have Gates
ESSAYS ON THE DRAMA OF
AUGUST WILSON
E DI TED BY ALAN N A DEL
UniversityofIowaPress, IowaCity52242
Copyright© 1994bytheUniversityofIowaPress
All rightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
DesignbyRichardHendel
No partofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilizedinanyform orbyanymeans,
electronicormechanical, includingphotocopyingandrecording,without
permissioninwritingfrom thepublisher.
Printedonacid-freepaper
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Mayallyourfences havegates: essayson thedramaofAugustWilson/editedby
AlanNadel.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-87745-428-0, ISBN0-87745-439-6(paper)
1.Wilson,August-Criticismandinterpretation. 2.Afro-Americansinliterature.
1. Nadel,Alan, 1947
PS3573·145677Z78 1994
812'·54-dc20 93-34628
elP
98 97 96 95 94 c 4 2
P 4 2
This collection is dedicated
to the memory ofmyparents,
PERCY and ADELE N ADEL,
who took me to the theater;
andto mydaughter
GLYNNIS PERKINS NADEL,
who loves toperform

CONTENTS
Preface byAlanNadel, ix
Introduction byAlan Nadel, I
The HistoryLesson: AuthenticityandAnachronism in
AugustWilson's Plays, 9
byAnneFleche
AugustWilson's Burden: The Function ofNeoclassicalJazz, 21
by Craig Werner
SpeakingofMa Rainey/ Talkingabout the Blues, 51
bySandraAdell
FillingtheTime: Reading Historyin the DramaofAugustWilson, 67
byJohn Timpane
Boundaries, Logistics, and Identity: The PropertyofMetaphor in
FerrcesandJoe Turner's ComeandGone, 86
byAlanNadel
Ghosts on the Piano: AugustWilson and the Representation
ofBlackAmerican History, 105
byMichaelMorales
American Historyas "LoudTalking" in Two Trains Running, 116
byMark William Rocha
Romare Bearden, AugustWilson, and the Traditions of
African Performance, 133
byJoan Fishman
Vlll CONTENTS
The Ground on Which IStand: AugustWilson's Perspective
onAfricanAmericanWomen, 150
bySandra G. Shannon
AugustWilson's Women, 165
byHarry.! Elam,Jr.
AugustWilson's Gender Lesson, 183
byMissy Dehn Kubitschek
IWant a BlackDirector, 200
byAugustWilson
"The Crookedswith the Straights": Fences, Race, and the
Politics ofAdaptation, 205
byMichaelAwkward
Annotated BibliographyofWorks byand aboutAugustWilson, 230
bySandra G. Shannon
Notes on Contributors, 267
Index to the Plays, 269
ALAN NADEL
Preface
When I was nine years old I saw Orson Welles-I think it was on
"The Steve Allen Show"-perform Shylock's speech from The Merchant of
Venice. Iwassostruckbythepowerofthespeechandits rendition that Iread
the play. It was not typical fare for a fourth-grader, and I'm not sure what I
gotfrom theexperience, butIdo rememberdiscoveringthattheplaywas not
just about prejudice but about money and, Iguess, about the ways in which
they are connected. I also remember feeling that it was about a similar con
nection between moneyand love and about the problems ofasmartwoman
in a stupid world, a woman who reminded me of the women played by
Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell in the old movies I loved to watch
on television.
Itwasjustabout then that myparents tookme to see Paul Muni in Inherit
the Wind, a play based on the Scopes trial that tested the Tennessee law pro
hibitingthe teachingofevolution. This too, as Iunderstood it, was aboutthe
destructive power of prejudice and the need to resist it. The same themes
were being played out that year (and perhaps eversince) across my television
screen as court-ordered desegregation was pitting the courage ofsix-year-old
children against the fears ofthe governor ofArkansas. It is impossible to as
sess theexactimpactoftheseandofso manyotherevents from 1956and1957
that remain vivid in my memory. But I know that that period marks a time
when I became however crudely aware ofthe ways theater, film, even televi
sion constituted a gateway not only out to the vast suffering and success of
others but also into my small personal sites offear and fortitude, sites made
slightly larger and more communal through my ability to recognize them
elsewhere.
I think this explains mylove oftheater and the profound effect it has had
on me over nearlyfour decades. And Iwould like to think that this explana
tion is implicit in the inscription August Wilson wrote on my copy ofhis
plays: "Mayallyourfences havegates." Everythingwe knowofhistoryis cir
cumscribed byfences. From thewallsofthewomb and the barsofthecrib to