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Although the process of empowering the African American community through history appears relatively straightforward, it is
potentially problematic, since traditional historiography is the
product of a Eurocentric world view that valorizes white men. Because the cultural experiences of marginalized groups like
African Americans have been interpreted by historians according
to the values and ideals of a white male culture, the recovery and,
indeed, the revaluation of African American history demands an
alternative method of inquiry, one that is distinctly African
American.
Perhaps it is not surprising, considering Wilson's functional
aesthetic as well as the limitations of historical discourse, that Wilson claims his project is "entirely based on the ideas and attributes that come out of the blues" (qtd. in Goodstein and Rosenfeld C4). For Wilson, the blues are the African American
community's cultural response to the world; they are a music
"that breathes and touches. That connects. That is in itself a way
of being, separate and distinct from any another" (Ma xvi). The
blues are a connective force that links the past with the present,
and the present with the future.
The analysis of Wilson's blues aesthetic that follows is much
indebted to the vernacular theory proposed by African American
literary scholar Houston A. Baker, Jr. in Blues, Ideology,and AfroAmerican Literature.Like Wilson Baker provides a broad and openended definition of the blues, describing them as an amalgam of
"work songs, group seculars, field hollers, sacred harmonies,
proverbial wisdom, folk philosophy, political commentary, ribald
humor, elegiac lament, and much more" (5). The blues, rather
than being a hybrid of European aesthetic forms, constitute an expressive matrix that reflects the complexities of African American
culture. Their potential as a critical tool in examining African
American literature is consequently far-reaching. By using
Baker's vernacular theory of the blues as its interpretative
Afdcan American Review, Volume 27, Number 4
0 1993 Jay Pluml
u5
istory theoreticallyisanopen-
562
67)
By singing the blues, these women became their own cultural historians and
moved from an absent to an always
present subject position. In much the
same way, Wilson positions African
Americans as the subjects of his plays,
offering a countertext to traditional
American history.
Wilson's dramaturgy specifically
resists the egalitarian myth of America
as a land of endless opportunity for
everyone, focusing instead on the social and economic displacement of
African Americans. For example, in
REVIEW
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Cutler: That's right.You get that understanding and you done got a grip
on life to where you can hold your
head up and go on to see what else
life got to offer.
Ma Rainey: The blues help you get
out of bed in the morning. You get up
knowingyou ain'talone.Tire's something else in the world. Something's
been added by that song. This be an
empty world without the blues. I take
thatemptiness and try to fill it up with
something. (82-83)
..
the only
564
teners may recall shared cultural experiences and, like Toledo, come to
the realization that they too have
heard this story before.
This reawakening of cultural consciousness, in turn, initiates a black
rite of passage in which Wilson's characters strive for a new existence. In his
study of tribal rites of passage,
anthropologist Amold van Gennep
identifies three stages to such
ceremonies: separation, transition, and
reincorporation. In reading African
American literature (particularly the
works of Richard Wright), Baker suggests that the position of blacks in a
white-dominated society forces many
into a "life crisis" of black identity that
results in a black rite of passage (152).
The initiand first rejects the socially
fixed position of African Americans as
a cultural "other" and withdraws
from white society. He or she then
moves through a timeless and statusless liminality in which he or she
receives instruction, often in the form
of ancestral wisdom. Finally, the initiand achieves a sense of self-sufficiency and is reincorporated into society.
Rather than assimilating white cultural values, however, the initiand ex-
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Baker, Houston A., Jr. Blues, Ideology, and Afro-Amencan Literature:A Vernacular Theory.
Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1984.
Brustein, Robert. "The Lesson of the Piano Lesson." New Republic 21 May 1990: 28-30.
Davis, Angela Y. Women, Culture, and Politcs. New York: Random, 1989.
Goodstein, Laura, and Megan Rosenfeld. "August Wilson: Writing Plays from the Blues."
Washington Post 13 Apr. 1990: C1+.
Hill, Holly. "BlackTheatre into the Mainstream." Contemporary Amercan Drama. Ed. Bruce King.
New York: St. Martin's, 1991. 81-96.
Homby, Richard. "New Life on Broadway." Hudson Review 41 (1988): 512-18.
Livingston, Dinah. "Cool August: Mr.Wilson's Red Hot Blues." Minnesota Monthly Oct. 1987: 24-32.
McIntyre, Mike. "The Worth of the Blues." Washington Post 30 July 1986: D7.
Neal, Larry."The Black Arts Movement." The BlackAesthetic. Ed. Addison Gayle, Jr. Garden City:
Doubleday, 1971. 272-90.
Oliver, Paul. Blues Fell This Morning: Meaning in the Blues. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge UP,
1990.
Powers, Kim. "AnInterview with August Wilson." Theater 16 (Fall/Winter 1984): 50-55.
van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Trans. Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L Caffee.
Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1960.
Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Plume, 1986.
-.Joe Turner'sCome and Gone. New York: Plume, 1988.
-. Ma Rainey'sBlackBottom.New York: Plume, 1985.
-. The Piano Lesson. New York: Plume, 1990.
Works
Cited
POSITIONANNOUNCEMENT
One-Year Leave Replacement, 1994-95. Rankdependent on qualifications. Ph.D. or A.B.D. generalist capable of teaching three of the following
four: American lit, Chaucer, 17th-century British poetry, children's lit.
Consideration of applications begins mid-March. Send letter, c.v., dossier
to: English Department Search Committee, Box 9677, Hollins College,
Roanoke, VA 24020-1677. Hollins is an EO employer and specifically invites and encourages applications from women and minorities.
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