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August Wilson
© Nancy Crampton
AUGUST WILSON
The Art of Theater No. 14
Interviewed by Bonnie Lyons and George Plimpton
Issue 153, Winter 1999
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From the Interview
INTERVIEWER
Is it a concern to effect social change with your plays?

WILSON
I don’t write particularly to effect social change. I believe writing can do that, but that’s not why I write. I work as an artist. All art is political in the sense that it serves someone’s politics. Here in America whites have a particular view of blacks. I think my plays offer them a different way to look at black Americans. For instance, in Fences they see a garbage man, a person they don’t really look at, although they see a garbage man every day. By looking at Troy’s life, white people find out that the content of this black garbage man’s life is affected by the same things—love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with black people in their lives.
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