Racial Otherness in the American Modern Theatre

“Racial Otherness in the American Modern Theatre” critically examines the black otherness of Eugene O’Neill and the white otherness of August Wilson by investigating their representative plays. The plays of both playwrights reveals their deep and consistent involvement with their racial other, This paper studies Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones” and August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” with the intention of exploring how their racial narratives can be read in relation to each other as well as to postcolonial theory in general. Members of two ethnic groups with histories both opposed and complementary, O’Neill and Wilson provide invaluable information about the nature of racial conceptualization and indoctrination in America.