The Dialectics of August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson"

Examines August Wilson's ten-play historical project-his series of plays about black experiences in each decade of the twentieth century. Explores the parallels of this project about black experience in each decade of the twentieth century and informs that the principles that define dramatic criticism are revealing. Indicates that looking back in African American history enables Wilson to reevaluate the choices made by African Americans in the past as well as to suggest their contemporary meanings. Focuses on Wilson's play "The Piano Lesson" (1987) in particular and compares it to "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959) by Lorraine Hansberry. States that history functions not as a static source of objective truth but as a constructed and constructive agent that must be mediated, negotiated, and interrogated.