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I don't know how I made it so long without reading this classic. I'm glad I did!
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A Raisin in the Sun: The Unfilmed Original Screenplay
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Under the editorship of the late Robert Nemiroff, with a provocative and thoughtful introduction by preeminent African-American scholar Margaret B. Wilkerson and a commentary by Spike Lee, this completely restored screenplay is the accurate and authoritative edition of Lorraine Hansberry's script and a testament to her unparalled accomplishment as a Black artist.
The 1961 film version of A Raisin in the Sun , with a screenplay by the author, Lorraine Hansberry, won an award at the Cannes Film Festival even though one-third of the actual screenplay Hansberry had written had been cut out. The film did essentially bring Hansberry's extraordinary play to the screen, but it failed to fulfill her cinematic vision.
Now, with this landmark edition of Lorraine Hansberry's original script for the movie of A Raisin in the Sun that audiences never viewed, readers have at hand an epic, eloquent work capturing not only the life and dreams of a Black family, but the Chicago—and the society—that surround and shape them.
Important changes in dialogue and exterior shots, a stunning shift of focus to her male protagonist, and a dramatic rewriting of the final scene show us an artist who understood and used the cinematic medium to transform a stage play into a different art form—a profound and powerful film.
The 1961 film version of A Raisin in the Sun , with a screenplay by the author, Lorraine Hansberry, won an award at the Cannes Film Festival even though one-third of the actual screenplay Hansberry had written had been cut out. The film did essentially bring Hansberry's extraordinary play to the screen, but it failed to fulfill her cinematic vision.
Now, with this landmark edition of Lorraine Hansberry's original script for the movie of A Raisin in the Sun that audiences never viewed, readers have at hand an epic, eloquent work capturing not only the life and dreams of a Black family, but the Chicago—and the society—that surround and shape them.
Important changes in dialogue and exterior shots, a stunning shift of focus to her male protagonist, and a dramatic rewriting of the final scene show us an artist who understood and used the cinematic medium to transform a stage play into a different art form—a profound and powerful film.
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1,1992
This edition
- Format
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256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
- Published
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April 1, 1995 by Berkley
- ISBN
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9780451183880
- ASIN
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0451183886
- Language
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English
About the author
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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.
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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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 70 votes)
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A companion classic to the play, Hansberry transforms a timeless stage work into a timeless screenplay.
The contextualizing introductions can be skipped or scanned, but serve as a suitable mini-history of this fine writing.
The contextualizing introductions can be skipped or scanned, but serve as a suitable mini-history of this fine writing.
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I liked how it kept me entertained and I always had to stop and think,"Whatnext". Also, to me, the vocabulary and grammar the different people used really said something about there lives.
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Really a masterpiece. I've never seen the movie (I will now), but the power in the family interactions and what they face is incredible. I should read more screenplays and drama in general. It really grabs you relentlessly.
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Great read on poverty, racism and classism. Walter's decision about midway through really emphasized how the poor get poorer. I really enjoyed the different viewpoints of the main characters based on the same struggle. I will likely read this play too. The symbolism of the plant moved me as well.
On a side note, this was the first screenplay I've read (I think) and I was at first very distracted by all the camera notes in between dialogue. However about halfway through, I realized I liked getting a full picture and was playing the movie in my mind.
On a side note, this was the first screenplay I've read (I think) and I was at first very distracted by all the camera notes in between dialogue. However about halfway through, I realized I liked getting a full picture and was playing the movie in my mind.
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This book is about a poor, black family living in Chicago after World War II. Lena recieves a check from her husband's insurance after his death. This causes big problems within the family. Walter Lee sees this check as a big opportunity for a business he wants to start. I don't like this book at all. It is a play and is placed in the past. At many points in the book it tended to be very boring. There were a lot of unneccessary details in the book. I do not recommend this book to any one. It you like plays that has a lot of conflict.
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Mama was a great matriarch of the family and wanted her family strong. Great, but heartbreaking story of one family trying to rise up and achieve a better life in the face of terrible racism.
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Great read!
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