Aristotle and Black Drama: A Theatre of Civil Disobedience
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
2013
Publisher
Baylor University Press
ISBN
9781602584525
Abstract
Civil disobedience has a tattered history in the American story. Described by Martin Luther King Jr. as both moral reflection and political act, the performance of civil disobedience in the face of unjust laws is also, Patrice Rankine argues, a deeply artistic practice. Modern parallels to King’s civil disobedience can be found in black theater, where the black body challenges the normative assumptions of classical texts and modes of creation. This is a theater of civil disobedience.
Utilizing Aristotle’s Poetics, Rankine ably invokes the six aspects of Aristotelian drama—character, story, thought, spectacle, song, and diction. He demonstrates the re-appropriation and rejection of these themes by black playwrights August Wilson, Adrienne Kennedy, and Eugene O’Neill. Aristotle and Black Drama frames the theater of civil disobedience to challenge the hostility that still exists between theater and black identity.
Keywords
American Drama, African American Authors, History And Criticism, African American Aesthetics, Aristotle, Influence, American Drama, Classical Influences, Civil Disobedience In Literature, Classicism In Literature, Comparative Literature, Modern And Classical, African American Theater, History
Recommended Citation
Rankine, Patrice. Aristotle and Black Drama: A Theatre of Civil Disobedience. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2013.
