Icons of African American Literature: The Black Literary World (Greenwood Icons)

534 Pages·2011·2.28 MB·English

by  Yolanda Williams Page

ICONS OF AFRICAN
AMERICAN
LITERATURE
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ICONS OF AFRICAN
AMERICAN
LITERATURE
The Black Literary World
Yolanda Williams Page, Editor
GREENWOOD ICONS
Copyright 2011 by Yolanda Williams Page
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations
in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Icons of African American literature : the Black literary world / Yolanda
Williams Page, Editor.
p. cm. — (Greenwood icons)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-35203-4 (hardcopy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35204-1 (ebook)
1. American literature—African American authors—History and criticism.
2. African Americans—Intellectual life. 3. African Americans in literature.
I. Page, Yolanda Williams. II. Series: Greenwood icons.
PS153.N5I35 2011
810.9896073—dc22 2011015377
ISBN: 978-0-313-35203-4
EISBN: 978-0-313-35204-1
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.
Greenwood
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Maya Angelou 1
By Kimberly Oden
James Arthur Baldwin 27
By Jasmin J. Vann
Black Aesthetic 35
By Lakisha Odlum
Black Arts Movement 43
By RaShell R. Smith-Spears
Blues Aesthetic 53
By Lynn Washington
Paul Laurence Dunbar 69
By Thomas Cassidy
Henry Louis Gates Jr. 85
By Mark S. James
Harlem Renaissance 103
By Ordner W. Taylor III
E. Lynn Harris 133
By Regina N. Bradley
Langston Hughes 139
By Karima K. Jeffrey
Zora Neale Hurston 171
By Warren J. Carson
vi Contents
Invisible Man 187
By Dolores V. Sisco
Jazz Aesthetic 211
By Karine Bligny
Terry McMillan 233
By Marian C. Dillahunt
Toni Morrison 265
By Annie-Paule Mielle de Prinsac and Susana M. Morris
Walter Mosley 299
By Jessica Parker
Native Son 321
By Aimable Twagilimana and Cammie M. Sublette
A Raisin in the Sun 345
By Carol Bunch Davis and Alexis M. Skinner
Signifying 367
By Timothy Mark Robinson
Slave Narrative 389
By Terry Novak
The Souls of Black Folk 407
By Robert J. Patterson
Up from Slavery 427
By Jessica Parker
Alice Walker 447
By R. Erin Huskey
August Wilson 471
By Yolanda Williams Page
About the Editor and Contributors 489
Index 495
Series Foreword
Worshipped and cursed. Loved and loathed. Obsessed about the world over.
What does it take to become an icon? Regardless of subject, culture, or era,
the requisite qualifi cations are the same: (1) challenge the status quo, (2) infl u-
ence millions, and (3) affect history.
Using these criteria, ABC-Clio/Greenwood introduces a new reference for-
mat and approach to popular culture. Spanning a wide range of subjects,
volumes in the Greenwood Icons series provide students and general readers
with a port of entry into the most fascinating and infl uential topics of the day.
Every title offers an in-depth look at 24 iconic fi gures, each of which captures
the essence of a broad subject. These icons typically embody a group of val-
ues, elicit strong reactions, refl ect the essence of a particular time and place,
and link different traditions and periods. Among those featured are artists
and activists, superheroes and spies, inventors and athletes, the legends and
mythmakers of entire generations. Yet icons can also come from unexpected
places: as the heroine who transcends the pages of a novel or as the revolu-
tionary idea that shatters our previously held beliefs. Whether people, places,
or things, such icons serve as a bridge between the past and the present, the
canonical and the contemporary. By focusing on icons central to popular cul-
ture, this series encourages students to appreciate cultural diversity and criti-
cally analyze issues of enduring signifi cance.
Most important, these books are as entertaining as they are provocative.
Is Disneyland a more infl uential icon of the American West than Las Vegas?
How do ghosts and ghouls refl ect our collective psyche? Is Barry Bonds an
inspiring or deplorable icon of baseball?
Designed to foster debate, the series serves as a unique resource that is ideal
for paper writing or report purposes. Insightful, in-depth entries provide far
more information than conventional reference articles but are less intimidating
and more accessible than a book-length biography. The most revered and
reviled icons of American and world history are brought to life with related
sidebars, timelines, fact boxes, and quotations. Authoritative entries are
viii Series Foreword
accompanied by bibliographies, making these titles an ideal starting point for
further research. Spanning a wide range of popular topics, including business,
literature, civil rights, politics, music, and more, books in the series provide
fresh insights for the student and popular reader into the power and infl uence
of icons, a topic of as vital interest today as in any previous era.
Preface
Many works and authors enjoy fl eeting popularity. They may be included on
course syllabi for a while or appear on bestseller lists for a few weeks, but
then they fall into obscurity. While few authors and works have enduring,
iconic signifi cance, those that do seem to remain recognizable and popular
despite the passing of time; they are mainstays in literature classrooms and
are continually the subjects of theses and dissertations. From early seminal
works such as Booker T. Washington’s U p from Slavery through contempo-
rary works such as August Wilson’s 10-play cycle that documents the African
American experience, iconic works and authors such as these have played a
tremendous role in the canonization of African American literature.
In fact, the contemporary interest in and recognition of African American
literature can be attributed, in part, to several iconic texts, writers, movements,
and literary ideals. I cons of African American Literature identifi es and defi nes
24 of the most recognizable and popular subjects related to African American
literature. The subjects identifi ed as icons are widely regarded and read and
are generally considered as canonical. Their appeal crosses literary boundar-
ies; they are not limited to studies of African American literature but can
be found in studies of American literature, women, history, and other areas.
These subjects have permanence, too; they are just as appealing and insightful
today as they were years ago. They continue to be the focus of contemporary
research and are the standard to which other works are compared. They are
the subjects and basis of fi lm, theatrical productions, and critical texts.
In addition to canonical works and writers such as Toni Morrison, The
Color Purple, Ralph Ellison, and Native Son, movements such as Black Arts
and the Harlem Renaissance are also included because many African Ameri-
can writers and texts have been infl uenced by the cultural and social nuances
of those periods. A survey of any number of African American works will
reveal that many of them address or use as their subjects pertinent issues from
the Black Arts and Harlem Renaissance movements. It can also be argued that