Black American Writers Bibliographical Essays: Volume 2 Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka PDF
Preview Black American Writers Bibliographical Essays: Volume 2 Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka
BLACK AMERICAN WRITERS Bibliographical Essays Volume 2 RICHARD WRIGHT, RALPH ELLISON, JAMES BALDWIN, AND AMIRI BARAKA Black AIllerican Writers Bibliographical Essays Volume 2 RICHARD WRIGHT, RALPH ELLISON, JAMES BALDWIN, AND AMIRI BARAKA Edited by M. THOMAS INGE MAURICE DUKE JACKSON R. BRYER M © St. Martin's Press Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1978 978-0-333-25893-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1978 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New York Singapore Tokyo British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Black American writers. 2. 1. American literature-Afro-American authors History and criticism I. lnge, T II. Duke, M III. Bryer, Jackson R 810'.9'896 PS153.N5 ISBN 978-1-349-81435-0 ISBN 978-1-349-81433-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-81433-6 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement PREFACE The last two decades have witnessed a great proliferation of scholar ship devoted to the history and culture of Afro-Americans. And out of this increasing recognition of the contribution of blacks to the develop ment of this nation has come a significant reassessment of the aesthetic and humanistic achievements of black writers. Black American Writers: Bibliographical Essays is intended as an apprais al of the best biographical and critical writings about America's seminal black writers, as well as an identification of manuscript and special resources for continued study. It is also intended to give an overview of the current state of scholarly recognition of the lives and careers of these authors and an appreciation of their works. The coverage is intentionally selective, both in the figures involved and the material examined in each chapter. Yet we feel that, within our self-imposed chronological limit, no major Afro-American literary fig ure has been overlooked. Volume 1 covers the early black writers of the eighteenth century, the slave narratives, the early modern writers, the Harlem Renaissance, and Langston Hughes. Volume 2 focuses on four major twentieth-century black writers: Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, and Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones). A bibliographical survey of the great number of black American writers who have come to prominence since Wright, Ellison, Baldwin, and Baraka would re quire another volume or volumes and, given the rich and vigorous production of black writers today and the continual emergence of new figures, would perhaps be premature. Our hope is that the bibliographical essays in these volumes, all by specialists on their topics, will aid and encourage further study of black American writers and literature. M. Thomas Inge Maurice Duke Jackson R. Bryer KEY TO JOURNAL ABBREVIA TIONS ABC American Book EH Eastern Horizon (Hong Collector Kong) AH American Heritage EJ English Journal AHR American Historical EngR English Record Review ETJ Educational Theatre AI American Imago Journal AJS American Journal of EvR Evergreen Review Sociology Expl Explicator AL American Literature FourQ Four Quarters ALR American Literary GaR Georgia Review Realism, 1870-1910 GC Graduate Comment AmerS American Studies HC Hollins Critic AQ American Quarterly IJAS Indian Journal of AR Antioch Review American Studies ArQ Arkansas Quarterly JAF Journal of American ASch American Scholar Folklore ASoc Arts in Society JAH Journal of American AIM Atlantic Monthly History BALF Black American JAmS Journal of American Literature Forum Studies BARev Black Academy Review JBIS Journal of Black Studies BB Bulletin of Bibliography JBP Journal of Black Poetry BlackBB Black Books Bulletin JEGP Journal of English and BlackD Black Dialogue Germanic Philology BlackR Black Review JHR Journal of Human BlackSch Black Scholar Relations BlackW Black World JML Journal of Modern CathW Catholic World Literature CE College English JNE Journal of Negro ChiR Chicago Review Education CLAJ College Language JNH Journal of Negro Association Journal History ColQ Colorado Quarterly JNT Journal of Narrative ConL Contemporary Technique Literature JPC Journal of Popular CP Concerning Poetry Culture Cril Critique JSH Journal of Southern DAI Dissertation Abstracts History International KanQ Kansas Quarterly DB Down Beat KR Kenyon Review EA Etudes Anglaises L&I Literature and Ideology EAL Early American LanM Langues Modernes Literature LJ Library Journal vii viii Key to Journal Abbreviations MarkhamR Markham Review S&S Science and Society MAS] Midcontinent American SAQ South Atlantic Quarterly Studies Journal SatR Saturday Review MD Modern Drama SBL Studies in Black MFS Modern Fiction Studies Literature Midwest] Midwest Journal SCR South Carolina Review MinnR Minnesota Review SEP Saturday Evening Post MissQ Mississippi Quarterly SF Social Forces ModQ Modern Quarterly SFQ Southern Folklore MQ Midwest Quarterly Quarterly MQR Michigan Quarterly SHR Southern Humanities Review Review MR Massachusetts Review SL] Southern Literary N&Q Notes and Queries Journal NALF Negro American SNL Satire Newsletter Literature Forum SNNTS Studies in the Novel NAR North American Review (North Texas State NConL Notes on Contemporary University) Literature SR Sewanee Review ND Negro Digest SSF Studies in Short Fiction NEQ New England Quarterly SWR Southwest Review NewL New Letters TAY Twice-A-Year NHB Negro History Bulletin TDR The Drama Review NL New Leader (Formerly Tulane NR New Republic Drama Review) NY New Yorker TQ Texas Quarterly NYHTBW New York Herald TSLL Texas Studies in Tribune Book Week Language and NYRB New York Review of Literature Books UKCR University of Kansas NYTBR New York Times Book City Review Review UR University Review PBSA Papers of the VQR Virginia Quarterly Bibliographical Society Review of America WHR Western Humanities PMLA Publications of the Review Modern Language WLB Wilson Library Bulletin Association of America WSCL Wisconsin Studies in PoeS Poe Studies Contemporary PR Partisan Review Literature PubW Publishers Weekly WWR Walt Whitman Review Q]S Quarterly Journal of XUS Xavier University Speech Studies QQ Queen's Quarterly YR Yale Review QRL Quarterly Review of YULG Yale University Library Literature Gazette RAL Research in African ZAA Zeitschrift fUr Anglistik Literature und Amerikanistik (East RALS Resources for American Berlin) Literary Study CONTENTS Preface v Key to Journal Abbreviations VII RICHARD WRIGHT John M. Reilly RALPH ELLISON Joanne Giza 47 JAMES BALDWIN Daryl Dance 73 AMIRI BARAKA (LEROI JONES) Letitia Dace 121 Name Index 179 BLACK AMERICAN WRITERS Bibliographical Essays Volume 2 RICHARD WRIGHT, RALPH ELLISON, JAMES BALDWIN, AND AMIRI BARAKA RICHARD WRIGHT JOHN M. REILLY Early in his career Richard Wright was asked to prepare a brief auto biographical note for The New Caravan (edited by Alfred Kreymborg et al. [New York: Norton, 1936]), which included his short story "Big Boy Leaves Home." He devoted most of the sketch to external detail: his race; his birth in 1908 in Mississippi; his moves with his family to various southern towns; the end of his schooling at the age of fifteen; and the series of menial jobs he had held. It was characteristic of Wright to stress such objective facts, for his early encounter with Jim Crow society, his poverty and limited opportunity for education or employment, and his migration in 1927 to the South Side of Chicago made him a representative participant in black social history and gave him his inevitable literary topic. It was just as appropriate, however, that Wright concluded his early autobiographical note with the state ment, "At present I'm busy with a novel," because the assertion of the presence of an artistic sensibility despite unprepossessing circumstances announced his consistent literary theme-the struggle for self-determi nation. Works such as Native Son and Black Boy greatly changed Ameri can literature, because the power of Wright's craft secured such a large audience and affected it so deeply that it became impossible for readers or critics to continue to ignore black American writing. Richard Wright died in 1960, after thirteen years of self-chosen exile in Paris. For a while, before and after his death, his reputation was in decline. Other writers appeared to speak for blacks. Today, though, because of the artistic power of his characteristic theme of the struggle for self-determination, Wright seems securely established as a major author. We are coming to understand what he meant by saying, in his essay "The Literature of the Negro in the United States" (in White Man, Listen! [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1957]) that the experiences of most people during the twentieth century are comparable to those undergone by blacks in America for three centuries. The author who describes that experience may be "the most representative voice of America and of oppressed people anywhere in the world today." 1
The list of books you might like
