Dramatic Vision of August Wilson

Abstract

August Wilson is acknowledged as the most important American playwright after O'Neill,Williams and Miller.As a cultural nationalist,he insists on blackness of African American theatre and Africanness of the black American identity.Through writing black history in America,he aims at reconnecting contemporary black Americans with Africa and reestablishing their identity.His dramatic vision and writing strategies are so influenced by 4Bs—Romare Bearden,Amiri Baraka,Jorge Lois Borges and Blues that the themes,content,structure,and language of his plays are characterized by the artistic features of painting,story-writing,and music,thus maintaining a distinctive stance in contemporary theatre.