Marginalized-Literature-Market-Life: Black Writers, a Literature of Appeal, and the Rise of Street Lit PDF
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UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Marginalized-Literature-Market-Life: Black Writers, a Literature of Appeal, and the Rise of Street Lit Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d45f381 Author Norris, Keenan Franklin Publication Date 2013 Supplemental Material https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d45f381#supplemental Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Marginalized-Literature-Market-Life: Black Writers, a Literature of Appeal, and the Rise of Street Lit A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Keenan Franklin Norris June 2013 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Erica Edwards, Chairperson Dr. Tiffany Lopez Dr. Toby Miller Copyright by Keenan Franklin Norris 2013 The Dissertation of Keenan Franklin Norris is approved: _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements This dissertation is the product of both my Ph.D. study at UC Riverside and my M.F.A. at Mills College. Therefore, I’d like to acknowledge people at both institutions that have helped me to conceptualize, craft and finalize this work. I’ve been very lucky to have Dr. Erica Edwards as my committee chair. I will forever be thankful to her for her generosity and all the work she’s done on my behalf. Likewise, the guidance of committee members Drs. Tiffany Lopez and Toby Miller has been a tremendous help in this process. I’m appreciative of the entire committee for allowing me the latitude to pursue this unique topic in a somewhat unconventional style— wedding scholarship with creative writing. Dr. Jennifer Doyle has been an inspiration to me since I first took class with her as an undergrad, probably in 2000 or 2001. Susan Straight, whom I have also known and worked with for more than a decade now, is the best teacher I’ve ever encountered, whether as student or colleague. Just as important in the Ph.D. process has been Tina Feldmann. There is no way myself and other Ph.D. students would be able to go very far in this complicated academic space without all that Tina does. At Mills College, I worked with professors Victor LaValle, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, and Dr. Thomas Strychacz, each of whom I truly appreciate. iv Academics from around the country have helped me to improve portions of this manuscript, either for publication, conference presentation, or what have you. Thanks to Kristina Graaff, Drs. Jerry Ward, Katrina Hazzard-Donald, Nathan Grant and Ronald Tyson. I am grateful to my interview subjects Faron Roberts, Ken Robidoux, Rudy Lewis, Ayori Selassie, Omar Tyree, Paul Guess, Pueng Vongs, Andrew Tonkovich and Jeremiah Dubovoya, as well as to Kathryn Benjamin, who transcribed many of these interviews. This dissertation is the product not only of formal but informal exchanges, conversations and relationships. So I thank my whole Ph.D. cohort, but most especially Regis Mann. I look forward to Regis’ scholarship and friendship for many years to come. The same is true of my Mills classmates, especially Laleh Khadivi. Lastly, let me take a moment for two good brothers now passed on, Dr. Lindon Barrett, and Reggie Lockett, West Oakland’s poet laureate. v Dedication To my mom and dad, Hiawatha and Calvin Norris vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Marginalized-Literature-Market-Life: Black Writers, a Literature of Appeal, and the Rise of Street Lit by Keenan Franklin Norris Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in English University of California, Riverside, June 2013 Dr. Erica Edwards, Chairperson This dissertation examines the relationship of the American publishing industry to Black American writers, with special focus on the re-emergence of the street lit sub-genre. Understanding this much maligned sub-genre is necessary if we are to understand the evolution of African-American literature, especially into the current era. Literature is best understood as a combinative process, produced not only by writers but various mediating figures and processes besides, at the combined levels of content, commercial production and distribution, and social and literary context. Therefore, offered here is a critical intervention into what has until now largely been a moralistic and polarizing high art/low art argument by considering street lit within the vast flows of literature by and about Black Americans, writing about urban areas, the market forces at work within the publishing industry and the writer's place in the midst of it all. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface x Introduction 1 Chapter I: The Content of the Cover 48 Chapter II: Reading Street and Urban Literature Closely and Comparatively 96 Chapter III: Black History 158 Chapter IV: How Underground Publishing Methods (case in point: David Walker) Re-Purpose Dominant Ideologies 190 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself. Frontispiece. 52 Figure 2 David Walker's Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World, “libertas justitia” frontispiece. 57 Figure 3: “Bandits’ Roost” photograph (Additional Page) Figure 4: Dirty Game cover art 89 ix
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