Seven Guitars
by August Wilson
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Book Summary Information
Author: August WilsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-08-01
ISBN: 0452276926
Number of pages: 107
Publisher: Plume
Book Reviews of Seven Guitars
Book Review: I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say...
Summary: 4 Stars
Seven Guitars is a play by August Wilson, one of ten plays in The Pittsburgh Cycle. The Cycle covers Black History in the United States of America, with one play for each decade. The plays are not strictly connected, but sometimes characters or the children of characters return, and they are connected through Black History, Jazz, The Blues, and other aspects of Black Culture. There is also often a mentally impaired oracular character, such as Hedley in Seven Guitars.
Seven Guitars is a play from the 40's, and it mainly concerns Floyd Barton, who is a Blues Musician who has recorded a hit song, "That's All Right" and is trying to get to Chicago where he has been invited to record some more. Hedley makes his living by tending and cooking chickens, but he may not be right in the head. He often refers to trumpeter Buddy Bolden and a Black Folk song where the legendary New Orleans jazzman returns bearing money. As Hedley becomes increasingly unhinged Floyd is still trying to get to Chicago; and also trying to convince old flame Vera to go with him. He needs to get his guitar out of hock, as he is booked to play a dance for Mother's Day, and then on to Chicago.
This is the first play I have read from August Wilson's cycle, and it makes me curious to read the rest, though now that I know the chronology, I will start with Gem of the Ocean and work my way through. Better yet, I would like to see the plays performed, to really experience them as they were intended. I like how he has encapsulated a century of history into ten plays. One thing that perplexed me about Seven Guitars though: I only counted one guitar, and kept waiting for the other six to make their appearance.
Though Floyd is a totally fictional character, I would say that he comes closest to Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup who toured through the Southland in the 40's with Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson. He also had a song entitled "That's All Right" and it was this song that was recorded by Elvis Presley, kind of goofing off after several lackluster attempts to record more Perry Comoish material in Sun Studios in Memphis. They let the tape roll, and Elvis had found the sound and direction that would launch his phenomenal career.
Seven Guitars and The Pittsburgh Cycle pays tribute to the various unsung heroes--not just the Musicians but the grandmothers and the men and women who struggled through their everyday lives--of the rich cultural tapestry of Black America in the 20th Century.
The Pittsburgh Cycle
1900s - Gem of the Ocean (August Wilson Century Cycle) (2003)
1910s - Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1984)
1920s - Ma Raineys Black Bottom (1982) - set in Chicago
1930s - The Piano Lesson (1989) - Pulitzer Prize
1940s - Seven Guitars (1995)
1950s - Fences, a Play By August Wilson (1985) - Pulitzer Prize
1960s - Two Trains Running (August Wilson Century Cycle) (1990)
1970s - Jitney: A Play in Two Acts (1983)
1980s - King Hedley II (The August Wilson Century Cycle) (2001)
1990s - Radio Golf (2005)
Arthur Big Boy Crudup and His 22 Greatest Songs by Arthur Big Boy Crudup
Summary of Seven Guitars
It is the spring of 1948. In the still cool evenings of Pittsburgh's Hill district, familiar sounds fill the air. A rooster crows. Screen doors slam. The laughter of friends gathered for a backyard card game rises just above the wail of a mother who has lost her son. And there's the sound of the blues, played and sung by young men and women with little more than a guitar in their hands and a dream in their hearts.
August Wilson's Seven Guitars is the sixth chapter in his continuing theatrical saga that explores the hope, heartbreak, and heritage of the African-American experience in the twentieth century. The story follows a small group of friends who gather following the untimely death of Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, a local blues guitarist on the edge of stardom. Together, they reminisce about his short life and discover the unspoken passions and undying spirit that live within each of them.
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