Fences (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: August Wilson
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Play
- Genres: Domestic realism, Drama
- Subjects: 1950’s, African Americans, Discrimination, 1960’s, Family or family life, United States or Americans, Racism, Communication, Marriage, Alienation, Yards or backyards, Adultery, City life, Working class
- Locales: Pittsburgh, PA
Wilson received his first Pulitzer Prize for Fences, which also won several Tony Awards during its Broadway run. The powerful family drama is set during the 1950's, when the first hints of change in race relations often gave rise to generational conflicts between hopeful young black men and their wary, experience-scarred parents.
The play was inspired by Wilson's memories of his own stepfather, a onetime high school football player who had hoped to win an athletic scholarship and study medicine, only to find that no college in Pittsburgh would give a scholarship to a...
[The entire page is 1125 words long]
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