The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature

Description

The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature considers the key literary, political, historical and intellectual contexts of African American literature from its origins to the present, and also provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in African American literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as: Vernacular, Oral, and Blues Traditions in Literature Slave Narratives and Their Influence The Harlem Renaissance Mid-twentieth century black American Literature Literature of the civil rights and Black Power era Contemporary African American Writing Key thematic and theoretical debates within the field Examining the relationship between the literature and its historical and sociopolitical contexts, D. Quentin Miller covers key authors and works as well as less canonical writers and themes, including literature and music, female authors, intersectionality and transnational black writing. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Table of Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgement......Page 7 1. Introduction and Overview: The Stories of African American Literature......Page 10 The Nature of The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature......Page 11 Historical and Literary Overview......Page 12 What Makes Black Literature “Black”?......Page 15 The Oral/Vernacular Tradition......Page 17 Popular v. High Art......Page 20 Is the Personal Necessarily Political?......Page 21 Does Race Trump Class?......Page 22 Improvisation, Play, Tricksters, and Conjurers......Page 24 Religion......Page 25 Assimilation and its Discontents......Page 26 Family Trees: Roots, Branches, and Severed Limbs......Page 28 Conclusion......Page 29 2. The Era of Slavery......Page 30 Earliest Works......Page 31 Slave Narratives......Page 35 The Beginnings of Fiction......Page 43 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 50 3. Reconstruction through the 1910s......Page 51 Non-fiction Prose During and After Reconstruction: Differences of Opinion......Page 52 Poets Emerge......Page 57 Fiction for a New Century: Double-consciousness and Passing Narratives......Page 61 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 69 4. The Era of the Harlem Renaissance......Page 70 A Period Defined, Redefined, and Debated......Page 72 New Wine in Old Bottles, Old Wine in New Bottles......Page 76 Racial Self-doubt......Page 79 Common Folks, Folklore, Primitivism......Page 84 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 90 5. Mid-Twentieth-Century Literature......Page 91 Richard Wright: Native Son and Beyond......Page 93 The 1940s: New Directions in Women’s Writing......Page 98 Ellison: A Voice from Underground......Page 101 James Baldwin: Exploding Expectations......Page 104 A Raisin in the Sun: Broadway Meets Black America......Page 108 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 110 6. The 1960s and the black Arts Movement......Page 112 The Early 1960s: Moving Toward Radicalism......Page 113 The Death and Afterlife of Malcolm X......Page 115 The Black Arts Movement......Page 118 Prison as Platform and Corral......Page 125 Women and the Black Arts Movement......Page 129 Postmodernism Meets the Black Arts Movement: Neo-HooDoo Aesthetics......Page 132 Conclusion......Page 135 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 136 7. 1970–2000: The Flourishing of Black Women Writers and the Return to Black History......Page 137 The 1970s and the Proliferation of Black Women Writers......Page 138 The Historical Impulse and the Rise of Toni Morrison......Page 142 Black Women Writers after Morrison......Page 150 Black Drama of the 1980s: Representing History Anew......Page 154 Toward the Twenty-First Century......Page 157 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 160 8. Twenty-First-Century Writing: A Time of Reckoning......Page 161 Queer Black Writing in the Twenty-first Century......Page 163 The Caribbean: African American Immigrant Writers......Page 166 Clever, Irreverent, and Postmodern: “The New Black Aesthetic”......Page 171 Contemporary Black Drama: Self-consciousness......Page 176 Black Poetry in the Twenty-first Century: Lift Every Voice and Sing......Page 178 Spoken Word, Hip-hop, Rap, and “Hood Fiction”......Page 181 Conclusion......Page 184 Suggestions for Further Reading......Page 185 References......Page 186 Index......Page 193