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A Raisin in the Sun / The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

lorraine hansberry robert nemiroff

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Collected together, two of the most electrifying classic masterpieces of the American theater, remarkable not only for their historical value but for their continued ability to engage the imagination and the heart. With an Introduction by Robert Nemiroff.
 
"Rich and warm and funny and varied ... beautifully written." — Los Angeles Times , on The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window

"One of a handful of great American plays—it belongs in the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Glass Menagerie ." — Washington Post , on A Raisin in the Sun
 
By the time of her death, at the tragically young age of thirty-four, Lorraine Hansberry had created two milestones of the American theater. With A Raisin in the Sun , Hansberry gave this country its most movingly authentic portrayal of black family life in the inner city. Barely five years later, with The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window , Hansberry gave us an unforgettable portrait of a man struggling with his individual fate in an age of racial and social injustice.
 
"Never before, in the entire history of the American theater, has so much of the truth of Black people's lives been seen on the stage," observed James Baldwin shortly before A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway in 1959. The play's title comes from a line in Langston Hughes's poem "Harlem," which warns that a dream deferred might "dry up/like a raisin in the sun."
 
From John Blaine’s Foreword to The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window : “It is drama of such clarity that one may return to it again and again, and, I expect, emerge as deeply moved; and each time the more illumined…. Miss Hansberry, I am convinced, doesn’t know how to create a character who isn’t gloriously diverse, illuminatingly contradictory, heart-breakingly alive…. [A] personal odyssey of discovery, a confrontation with others in the process of which [Brustein] discovers himself.”

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1966

This edition

Format
368 pages, Paperback
Published
June 13, 1995 by Vintage
ISBN
9780679755319
ASIN
0679755314
Language
English

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About the author

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lorraine hansberry

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Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of black Americans in Chicago living under racial segregation. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award – making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant in the 1940 U.S. Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.
After she moved to New York City, Hansberry worked at the Pan-Africanist newspaper Freedom, where she worked with other black intellectuals such as Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois. Much of her work during this time concerned the African struggles for liberation and their impact on the world. Hansberry also wrote about being a lesbian and the oppression of gay people. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 34 during the Broadway run of her play The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window in 1965. Hansberry inspired the Nina Simone song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", whose title-line came from Hansberry's autobiographical play.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
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36(36%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
FreeHugs4Anime
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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two of the finest, most riveting pieces of drama ever composed. lorraine hansberry had talent like oceans have swells, and is one of the finest american playwrights. ever. she died in 1965, at the age of 34, of pancreatic cancer.
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Umezono
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I think it was a wonderful book full of mystery of different ways. she really made the struggle in this book known.
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bakusanity
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Had a hard time with the male character until I saw Sidney Poitier's portrayal in the film version.
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FrozenPossum
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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i think its the best book i have ever read in english class. it contains very real situations that we face today such as family problams. i like it because i can relate to how a family member has a very big dream and is willing to risk everything to get it. i recommend this book to anyone who like or is experiencing these kind of situtations.
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pzxpcpapsdl
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I'm glad I read this play. Looking forward to tracking down the movie.
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LadyAxeFace
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The edition I have is different from this one, but no matter. I got my copy from a secondhand bookstore in downtown Palo Alto and the guy let me have the book for free because I didn't have three dollars on me, so I owe the guy a visit sometime this summer.

Wow. This book was amazing. The writing style is so powerful and it's hard to believe that Hansberry was only 29 when she wrote this. I think this play speaks to readers of all races because all of us have had dreams and with these dreams have come obstacles. The story especially spoke to me now because I am at a point in my life that is both thrilling and scary, as I look ahead to my vast, unprotected future in college and beyond.

Also, the movie was just as good as the book. Definitely recommend it.
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Jirosan_271
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I had no idea what “A Raisin in the Sun” could possibly be about before reading the play. I simply chose it over “Twelve Angry Men” since I had read that play so many times before. I didn’t want to read it yet again. Due to the cover of the book having an African American woman in 60s clothing on the cover, I assumed that was what it was about.

My immediate response to the plot and characters is to wonder what sort of things I am missing. I am curious as to what sort of things happened to Bennie and Walter when they were younger to cause such idealistic views, the ideas of being able to go out and do possibly anything they could ever imagine. I call them idealistic simply because most people in the same situation would not feel they could ever overcome the poverty that they were experiencing. I am curious about Mr. Younger especially wondering what kind of a father he was and how he passed away. I am also curious about if they are in debt due to any outstanding medical bills because of his health. I was extremely motivated to keep reading because I was curious to find out what they did with the money and find out how it is possible for a black family during this time to overcome the prejudices of the 60s. Unfortunately, I cannot compare this to any other text that I have read because I cannot think of anything even remotely close to the ideas that are present.

The book is strong in representing a family that ultimately sticks together in the end. If they weren’t thinking of their family situation, then they would have not been able to inevitably move to a community that did not welcome them as openly as others would. The book is also exceptionally strong in presenting the idea that anyone can follow their dreams if they decide that is what they, and they believe they deserve it. However, one weakness that I especially find irritating is that reader does not receive much background information on the family. We know they are poor; however, we do not get a sense of exactly how poor. For example, Walter drinks every night according to Ruth. If they are poor enough to now they don’t have money to give their son fifty cents for school, why is he spending so much money on drinking?

This text provides a look at the diversity of the students that we will encounter. For example, Bennie comes from a family that is poverty stricken. However, she attends school and intends on becoming a doctor. I believe there are many students in our own classrooms that feel that way. There are students who sit in school that are only there so they are able to eat that day. This is an idea that can be carried on to many future years of teaching. I believe the students who are poverty stricken are able to identify with the characters. The students with a minority background can also identify with this piece. Also, any one of the students who has a dream for themselves is able to identify with Bennie or Walter. Finally, students who have a family that they struggle to cooperate and understand are able to identify with the characters. 3Q, 2P
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Torousei
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I'm assuming this is the 25th anniversary edition with wonderful introductions to each play (my cover was different).

A classic I never read before (Raisin), one that has been recently revived again on Broadway and has been receiving some press (The Sign), and some fantastic introductions to each. I'm so glad to be introduced to Hansberry's work. I'm also now reading "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black" by Hansberry and feeling deeply the tragedy of losing such a mind so early (at 34) to cancer.

I read The Sign first and was not taken by it initially--it was something that I appreciated the further along I read into the play. I'm still not sure how I feel, but I was taken in by the introduction that recounts the way in which a bevy of Broadway celebrities and literary giants fought to extend the run. I also appreciated learning more about some of the problems of staging plays and the Broadway scene in general that I never knew before. Moving to Raisin, I had more ground under my feet, but also appreciated the introductions that provided support for the complexity of the play and the fact that the restored scenes were included in this edition. It isn't a feel-good "movin' on up" play, but so much more engaged in the challenging time in which Hansberry wrote this. Her prescience and ability to represent the connectedness between the various cultural influences was impressive.

I now want to see The Sign staged. I know there is much more humor than I read initially and I think a good production of it could bring more to life than I appreciated.

While both are rich and complex and stand the test of time, I think Raisin transcends more easily, while a reader of The Sign has to appreciate more the times in which this was created. This seems especially true in terms of the focus on so-called intellectuals in The Sign, the depictions of which seem more accessible in Raisin.

Definitely glad I took the time, even if part of it is the sadness to see how much remains the same in regard to race relations. The absurdity of our political landscape today is highlighted, including the whitewashing attempts to erase the real lived history of racism in our country.
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