Research Article

MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON'S THE PIANO LESSON

Number: 16 December 29, 2023
TR EN

MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON'S THE PIANO LESSON

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to investigate the way the past determines the melancholic identity of the black people involved in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson and the way the piano’s presence, though traumatic, stands as remains of the loss. The remains act like a monument for black people through which they can read and re-read their history. In The Piano Lesson the remnants or remains of loss are depicted, serving as poignant symbols of past traumas and unresolved grief. These remnants not only evoke the weight of history but also provide insights into the characters' emotional struggles and their attempts to reconcile with their losses. In order to define the past and its influence in the present referring to some notions like trauma, melancholia, and loss is unavoidable. However, the definitions provided here deviate from the classical explanations given to these perspectives. August Wilson's The Piano Lesson represents the accumulation of the losses and traumas experienced by the black race through whose remains the present generation of black people attaches themselves to the past, which gives them a melancholic privilege to produce new reading of traumas to stand against the white owners. Moreover, the piano in the play acts as a traumatic monument in which the history of the past has been carved, and through which the fight against slavery starts which could lead to freedom and independence for the black race against slavery.

Keywords

References

  1. Ahmed, Sara. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014.
  2. Bissiri, Amandou. "Aspects of Africanness in August Wilson's Drama: Reading The Piano Lesson Through Wole Soyinka's Drama," African American Review 30.1, (1996): 99-113.
  3. Bogumil, Mary L. Understanding August Wilson. South Carolina: University of South Carolina, 1999.
  4. Elam, Harry. J. The Past as Present in the Drama of August Wilson. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press, 2007.
  5. Eng, David L. and David Kazanjian. "Introduction: Mourning Remains" in Loss The Politics of Mourning. Editors: David L. Eng and David Kazanjian, 1-28. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
  6. Eng, David. "Melancholia in the Late Twentieth Century," Chicago Journals 25.4, (2000): 1275-1281. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3175527
  7. Eng, David L. and Shinhee Han. Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation. London: Duke University Press, 2019.
  8. Sigmund Freud. “Mourning and Melancholia” in The Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Editors: James Strachey et al. London: Hogarth, 1957.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Creative Arts and Writing

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

December 26, 2023

Publication Date

December 29, 2023

Submission Date

April 12, 2023

Acceptance Date

October 10, 2023

Published in Issue

Year 2023 Number: 16

APA
Sepehrmanesh, M. (2023). MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi, 16, 50-62. https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1281579
AMA
1.Sepehrmanesh M. MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi. 2023;(16):50-62. doi:10.38060/kare.1281579
Chicago
Sepehrmanesh, Mahdi. 2023. “MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON”. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi, nos. 16: 50-62. https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1281579.
EndNote
Sepehrmanesh M (December 1, 2023) MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi 16 50–62.
IEEE
[1]M. Sepehrmanesh, “MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON”, KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi, no. 16, pp. 50–62, Dec. 2023, doi: 10.38060/kare.1281579.
ISNAD
Sepehrmanesh, Mahdi. “MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON”. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi. 16 (December 1, 2023): 50-62. https://doi.org/10.38060/kare.1281579.
JAMA
1.Sepehrmanesh M. MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi. 2023;:50–62.
MLA
Sepehrmanesh, Mahdi. “MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON”. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi, no. 16, Dec. 2023, pp. 50-62, doi:10.38060/kare.1281579.
Vancouver
1.Mahdi Sepehrmanesh. MELANCHOLIA AND REMAINS OF LOSS IN AUGUST WILSON’S THE PIANO LESSON. KARE Uluslararası Karşılaştırmalı Edebiyat Dergisi. 2023 Dec. 1;(16):50-62. doi:10.38060/kare.1281579

 

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