Teaching "Joe Turner's Come and Gone."
This article examines how to approach the teaching of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." With its powerful and haunting evocations of the Middle Passage from Africa to America, his remembrance of oppressive racial servitude, his invocation of spiritual pa...
| Publicado en: | Modern Drama Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 582 - 601 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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University of Toronto Press
Winter2007
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=31941363&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 31941363 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00267694 MOD jtl: Modern Drama issn: 00267694 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Winter2007 vid: 50 iid: 4 pid: 678 pub: University of Toronto Press artinfo: ui: 31941363 10.3138/md.50.4.582 ppf: 582 ppct: 19 formats: tig: atl: Teaching "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." aug: au: Elam, Jr., Harry J. affil: Stanford University su: Wilson, August, 1945-2005 Joe Turner's Come & Gone (Theatrical production) Africans African Americans in literature Christianity Ritual African American history Symbolism Engagement (Philosophy) Racial & ethnic attitudes Racism in language sug: subj: Wilson, August, 1945-2005 Joe Turner's Come & Gone (Theatrical production) Africans African Americans in literature Christianity Ritual African American history Symbolism Engagement (Philosophy) Racial & ethnic attitudes Racism in language keyword: African African American embodiment history memory Middle Passage possession race ritual self-determination slavery spirituality Yoruban ab: This article examines how to approach the teaching of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson's "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." With its powerful and haunting evocations of the Middle Passage from Africa to America, his remembrance of oppressive racial servitude, his invocation of spiritual passion in the face of overwhelming circumstances, "Joe Turner" is perhaps the most spiritual and non-linear piece within Wilson's twentieth-century cycle of plays. Consequently, it offers certain pedagogical challenges. This article argues that, at its core, the play functions ritualistically, as the central figure in the action, Herald Loomis, moves from self-destruction and stagnation to liberation by taking the self-defining, racially significant, spiritual act of bleeding for himself. Wilson sets this play in 1911, a time not that far removed from slavery, in which he feels that African retentions and rituals were palpable in African American experiences. In working with this play with an undergraduate class or graduate course, the article argues, it is critical to examine with the students how ritual operates in the play, to determine the ritual action of the play, and to analyse how Africa is ritualized and how such symbolic enactments inform Wilson's re-working of African American history during this period of the Great Migration. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2007 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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