African American Literary Theory: A Reader

by Winston Napier

Overview

The first volume to expound African American literary theory from the 1920s to present

African American Literary Theory: A Reader is the first volume to document the central texts and arguments in African American literary theory from the 1920s through the present. As the volume progresses chronologically from the rise of a black aesthetic criticism, through the Blacks Arts Movement, feminism, structuralism and poststructuralism, and the rise of queer theory, it focuses on the key arguments, themes, and debates in each period.

By constantly bringing attention to the larger political and cultural issues at stake in the interpretation of literary texts, the critics gathered here have contributed mightily to the prominence and popularity of African American literature in this country and abroad. African American Literary Theory provides a unique historical analysis of how these thinkers have shaped literary theory, and literature at large, and will be a indispensable text for the study of African American intellectual culture.

Contributors include Sandra Adell, Michael Awkward, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Hazel V. Carby, Barbara Christian, W.E.B. DuBois, Ann duCille, Ralph Ellison, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Addison Gayle Jr., Carolyn F. Gerald, Evelynn Hammonds, Phillip Brian Harper, Mae Gwendolyn Henderson, Stephen E. Henderson, Karla F.C. Holloway, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Joyce A. Joyce, Alain Locke, Wahneema Lubiano, Deborah E. McDowell, Harryette Mullen, Larry Neal, Charles I. Nero, Robert F. Reid-Pharr, Marlon B. Ross, George S. Schuyler, Barbara Smith, Valerie Smith, Hortense J. Spillers, Sherley Anne Williams, and Richard Wright.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814758106
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2000
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	1,126,249
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.36(d)

About the Author

Winston Napier is E. Franklin Frazier Assistant Professor of African American Literature and Critical Theory at Clark University in Worcester, MA.

What People are Saying About This

Karla F.C. Holloway

African American Literary Theory is an extraordinary gift to literary studies. It is necessary, authoritative and thorough. The timing of this book is superb!
—Karla F.C. Holloway, Duke University

Farah Jasmine Griffin

A volume of great conceptual significance and originality in its focus on the development of African American literary theory.
—Farah Jasmine Griffin, University of Pennsylvania

Marlon B. Ross

The influence of African American literature can be attributed\, in no small part, to the literary theorists gathered in this collection. This is a superb anthology that represents a diversity of voices and points of view, and a much needed historical retrospective of how African American literary theory has developed.
—Marlon B. Ross, University of Michigan

Fara Jasmine Griffin

A volume of great conceptual significance and originality in its focus on the development of African American literary theory.
— University of Pennsylvania

Editorial Reviews

"The influence of African American literature can be attributed, in no small part, to the literary theorists gathered in this collection. This is a superb anthology that represents a diversity of voices and points of view, and a much needed historical retrospective of how African American literary theory has developed."

Marlo B. Ross

"African American Literary Theory is an extraordinary gift to literary studies. It is necessary, authoritative and thorough. The timing of this book is superb!"

Karla F. C. Holloway

"A volume of great conceptual significance and originality in its focus on the development of African literary theory."

Farah Jasmine Griffin

"African American Literary Theory is an extraordinary gift to literary studies. It is necessary, authoritative and thorough. The timing of this book is superb!"-Karla F. C. Holloway, Duke University

"A volume of great conceptual significance and originality in its focus on the development of African literary theory."-Farah Jasmine Griffin, University of Pennsylvania

"The influence of African American literature can be attributed, in no small part, to the literary theorists gathered in this collection. This is a superb anthology that represents a diversity of voices and points of view, and a much needed historical retrospective of how African American literary theory has developed."-Marlo B. Ross, University of Michigan

From the Publisher

Even for the enthusiastic reader, literary theory may represent a vacuum of over-intellectualism that promises to suck all the enjoyment out of curling up with a good book. Though it can sometimes be hard to understand for its abundance of fifty-cent words, worthwhile literary criticism really just boils down to asking tough questions about literature. With that as a base, Napier offers a collection of some of the most significant and interesting ideas written about African American letters.

Black Issues Book Review

Fifty-one essays by writers such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as critics and academics such as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. examine the central texts and arguments in African American literary theory from the 1920s through the present. Contributions are organized chronologically beginning with the rise of a black aesthetic criticism, through the Black Arts Movement, feminism, structuralism and poststructuralism, queer theory, and cultural studies. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews