Pearl Cleage: entre la esperanza y la desesperación

Abstract

El presente artículo analiza el desarrollo que Pearl Cleage hace de la oposición binaria esperanza- desesperación en su obra teatral. Se describe brevemente la vida de esta dramaturga negra contemporánea y se estudian una a una sus cuatro obras teatrales más importantes: Chain, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Bourbon at the Border y Flyin’ West. Además, se mencionan varias de sus obras menores, como son Late Bus to Mecca, A Song for Coretta y The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years. El estudio de la obra de Cleage se hace desde el marco teórico generado por el feminismo afroamericano contemporáneo y se contrasta su obra teatral con la de otras dramaturgas negras actuales.

The current essay analyses the development of the binary opposition hope-despair that Pearl Cleage does in her dramatic texts. The life of this contemporary African American playwright is described briefly, and her four most important plays are analysed: Chain, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Bourbon at the Border, and Flyin’ West. Several of her other minor works are also mentioned: Late Bus to Mecca, A Song for Coretta, and The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years. The current essay studies Cleage’s work using African American feminism as a theoretical framework, and it contrasts her theatrical work with that of other contemporary African American women playwrights.