Framing African American Cultural Identity: The Bookends Plays in August Wilson's 10-Play Cycle

Abstract

In various interviews, August Wilson admitted that a "special relationship" exists between his so-called bookend plays: Gem of the Ocean (set in 1904) and Radio Golf (set in 1997). In writing both, his mission was to ". . . build an umbrella under which the rest of the plays can sit . . . a bridge. The subject matter of these two plays is going to be very similar and connected thematically," he explained further, "meaning that the other eight will be part and parcel of these two. You should be able to see how they all fit inside these last two plays." This essay entitled "Framing African American Cultural Identity: The Bookends Plays in August Wilson's 10-Play Cycle" examines the intertextual relationships within and among five of August Wilson's cycle plays while paying close attention to two of Wilson's plays that are strategically positioned at the beginning and end of a ninety-six-year time line.