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图书馆 | 资料类型 | 排架号 | 子计数 | 书架位置 | 状态 | 图书预约 |
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正在检索... Science | Book | 810.9896 C767C, 2001 | 1 | Stacks | 正在检索... 未知 | 正在检索... 不可借阅 |
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摘要
摘要
Demonstrating the extraordinary versatility of African-American men's writing since the 1970s, this forceful collection illustrates how African-American male novelists and playwrights have absorbed, challenged, and expanded the conventions of black American writing and, with it, black male identity.
From the "John Henry Syndrome"--a definition of black masculinity based on brute strength or violence--to the submersion of black gay identity under equations of gay with white and black with straight, the African-American male in literature and drama has traditionally been characterized in ways that confine and silence him. Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama identifies the forces that limit black male discourse, including traditions established by iconic African-American male authors such as James Baldwin, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison. This thoughtful volume also shows how contemporary black male authors use their narratives to put forward new ways of being and knowing that foster a more complete sense of self and more humane and open ways of communicating with and relating to others.
In the work of Charles Johnson, Ernest Gaines, and August Wilson, contributors find paths toward broader, less rigid ideas of what black literature can be, what the connections among individual and communal resistance can be, and how black men can transcend the imprisoning models of hyper masculinity promoted by American culture. Seeking greater spiritual connection with the past, John Edgar Wideman returns to the folk rituals of his family, while Melvin Dixon and Brent Wade reclaim African roots and traditions.
Ishmael Reed struggles with a contemporary cultural oppression that he sees as an insidious echo of slavery, while Clarence Major's experimental writing suggests how black men might reclaim their own voices in a culture that silences them.
Taking in a wide range of critical, theoretical, cultural, gender, and sexual concerns, Contemporary Black Men's Fiction and Drama provides provocative new readings of a broad range of contemporary writers.
评论 (1)
Choice 评论
Numerous recent books have treated the subject of black men, but with exceptions such as James Coleman's Black Male Fiction and the Legacy of Caliban (CH, Apr'02), few have focused on literary criticism. In fact, Clark (George Mason Univ.) includes an essay by Coleman on Clarence Major, which is a welcome addition to the field of black men's literature. Other essays treat such well-known figures as Ishmael Reed, John Edgar Wideman, Charles Johnson, and Ernest Gaines, but the most significant pieces may be the ones on less-recognized but talented writers including Melvin Dixon, Brent Wade, and Randall Kenan. Of particular interest is Trudier Harris's insightful reading of Raymond Andrews's novel Appalachee Red (1978) in the light of legendary hero John Henry. One complaint: though the book's title includes the word "drama," Clark includes only one essay on the subject, his own piece on August Wilson. This volume of cogently written articles, generally more accessible to undergraduates than Coleman's book, belongs in all collections of African American literature. L. J. Parascandola Long Island University--Brooklyn Campus
目录
Acknowledgments | p. vii |
Introduction | p. 1 |
1. Rescuing the Black Homosexual Lambs: Randall Kenan and the Reconstruction of Southern Gay Masculinity | p. 15 |
2. This Disease Called Strength: The Masculine Manifestation in Raymond Andrews's Appalachee Red | p. 37 |
3. Looking Homewood: The Evolution of John Edgar Wideman's Folk Imagination | p. 54 |
4. Commodity Culture and the Conflation of Time in Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada | p. 71 |
5. Clarence Major's All-Night Visitors: Calibanic Discourse and Black Male Expression | p. 89 |
6. "I Was My Father's Father, and He My Child": The Process of Black Fatherhood and Literary Evolution in Charles Johnson's Fiction | p. 108 |
7. Prodigal Agency: Allegory and Voice in Ernest J. Gaines's A Lesson before Dying | p. 135 |
8. Without a Cosmology: The Psychospiritual Condition of African-American Men in Brent Wade's Company Man and Melvin Dixon's Trouble the Water | p. 155 |
9. Are Love and Literature Political? Black Homopoetics in the 1990s | p. 179 |
10. Healing the Scars of Masculinity: Reflections on Baseball, Gunshots, and War Wounds in August Wilson's Fences | p. 200 |
Selected Bibliography | p. 223 |
Contributors | p. 227 |
Index | p. 231 |