Jitney
by August Wilson
List Price:
Our Price: $4.99
You Save: $9.96 (67%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.85 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: August WilsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2003-01-15
ISBN: 1585673706
Number of pages: 96
Publisher: Overlook TP
Book Reviews of Jitney
Book Review: Hard Times In Babylon
Summary: 4 Stars
By the time that this review appears I will have already reviewed five of the ten plays in August Wilson's Century cycle. On the first five I believe that I ran out of fulsome praise for his work and particularly for his tightly woven story and dialogue. Rather than keep following that path for the next five plays I would prefer to concentrate on some of the dialogue that makes Brother Wilson's work so compelling. For those who want to peek at my general observations you can look at my review of "Gem Of The Ocean" (the first play chronologically in the cycle).
In all previously reviewed plays I noticed some piece of dialogue that seemed to me to sum up the essence of the play. Sometimes that is done by the lead character as was the case with Troy Maxton in "Fences" when he (correctly) stated that there should been "no too early" in regard to the possibilities of black achievement and prospects in America. Other times it is by a secondary character in the form of some handed down black folk wisdom as means to survive in racially-hardened America. In "Jitney" this task falls to Doub in Act Two when he cuts through all of the rhetoric and accusations a that some blacks were (and still are) making about white abandonment of the struggle for racial equality in America. His retort: ain't no whites give a damn about you, you don't exist for them.
These lines are doubly poignant in play where the central occupation is that of "homegrown" private cab drivers that sprang up in the black ghettoes because the licensed cabbies wouldn't go into black neighborhoods. Powerful stuff. As I have noted previously that says more in a couple of sentences about a central aspect of black experience in America at the end of the 20th century than many manifestos, treatises or sociological/psychological studies. That Wilson can weave that hard understanding into a play of less than one hundred pages and drive the plot line of a story that deals with the contradiction between black aspirations and the reality of the hard fact that many blacks were left behind heading into in the Reaganite 1980's when all the "boats were to be lifted to by the rising tide" is compelling. Given the hard fate for most blacks in housing, education and jobs today Brother Wilson is on to something. As I have also noted previously- that, my friends, is still something to consider in the "post-racial" Obamiad. We shall see.
Arts & Photography Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Remembering August Wilson: 1945 - 2005
The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilsonby Harry Justin Elam Jr.
University of Michigan Press; Published: 2004-01-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $50.25
Price in other shops:
August Wilson and the African-American Odysseyby Kim Pereira
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1995-02-01; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
August Wilson and Black AestheticsPalgrave Macmillan; Published: 2004-08-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
I Ain't Sorry for Nothin' I Done: August Wilson's Process of Playwritingby Joan Herrington
Limelight Editions; Published: 2004-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.42
Price in other shops:
Understanding August Wilson (Understanding Contemporary American Literature)by Mary L. Bogumil
University of South Carolina Press; Published: 1999-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $34.92
Price in other shops:
August Wilson: A Literary Companion (Mcfarland Literary Companions)by Mary Ellen Snodgrass
McFarland & Company; Published: 2004-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $39.95
August Wilson: A Casebook (Casebooks on Modern Dramatists)by Marilyn Elkins
Routledge; Published: 2000-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.25
Price in other shops:
Cultivating the Ground on Which We Standby August Wilson
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2006-10-30; Hardcover; Book
The Ground on Which I Stand (Dramatic Contexts)by August Wilson
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 2000-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
August Wilson: Three Playsby August Wilson
University of Pittsburgh Press; Published: 1991-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.46
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
August Wilson: Three Playsby August Wilson
University of Pittsburgh Press; Published: 1991-06-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.00
Price in other shops:
Fences (Plume)by August Wilson
Plume; Published: 1986-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom: A Play (Plume)by August Wilson
Plume; Published: 1985-04-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.05
Price in other shops:
Joe Turner's Come and Goneby August Wilson
Plume; Published: 1988-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.78
Price in other shops:
Two Trains Running (August Wilson Century Cycle)by August Wilson
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops:
The Piano Lessonby August Wilson
Plume; Published: 1990-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.69
Price in other shops:
Seven Guitarsby August Wilson
Plume; Published: 1997-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.45
Price in other shops:
Gem of the Oceanby August Wilson
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 2006-07-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
King Hedley IIby August Wilson
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 2005-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Radio Golfby August Wilson
Theatre Communications Group; Published: 2008-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.92
Price in other shops: