Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-6lqsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-22T17:54:26.250Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 25 - Aunt Ester and Performing Memory

from Part IV - Critical and Comparative Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2025

By
Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green
Edited by
Khalid Y. Long  and
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Khalid Y. Long
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington DC
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
Get access

Summary

Within August Wilson’s century-long odyssey, the survival of the past is symbolized through its most significant character, Aunt Ester Tyler. The mistress of 1839 Wylie Avenue, Aunt Ester represents the ingenuity and will of the African spirit to survive the horrors and the degradation of the conditions of slavery and dehumanization. This chapter teases out some of these elements of memory, illuminating how the American Century Cycle structurally signifies Passover themes, while arguing that Wilson dramaturgically deploys such cues as a strategy towards a cultural rehearsal of remembering.

Keywords

August WilsonAmerican Century CycleAunt EsterGem of the OceanMemoryEstherSeven GuitarsFencesKing Hedley II
Type
Chapter
Information
August Wilson in Context , pp. 305 - 318
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Further Reading

Chireau, Yvonne P., Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Gary and Mason, John, Black Gods: Òrìṣà Studies in the New World (Brooklyn, NY: Yoruba Theological Archministry, 1998).Google Scholar
Morrison, Toni, “The Site of Memory,” in The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2019).Google Scholar
Shannon, Sandra G., “August Wilson Explains His Dramatic Vision: An Interview,” in Conversations with August Wilson, ed. Bryer, Jackson and Hartig, Mary C. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991).Google Scholar
Thompson, Robert S., Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy (New York: Random House, 1984).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×