THE ROLE OF A HISTORICAL FIGURE IN SUSAN-LORI PARKS’S WORKS

Abstract

The article focuses on the plays of the American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, whose worksreveal the problem
of self-identification, relationships between different racial groups, social injustice, discrepancyin actions and beliefs,
issues of responsibility, duty, andfamily. It has been proved that in the plays “The America Play” and “Topdog/
Underdog” the author does not only seek to accurately reproduce and analyze the historical events associated with
the personality of Abraham Lincoln and the period of slavery in the United States, but she also conveys theparadoxes of
the human life. Therefore, in the playwright’s artistic world there is a rejection of strict documentary and linearity,
a transition from socio-cultural to private chronology and vice versa. Personal tragedy becomes a natural result of the
influence of external circumstances for both the main characters of the plays and famous historical figures.

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