eBook

African American writers and classical tradition

Cook, William W, Tatum, James

2010,2011

Overview

Constraints on freedom, education, and individual dignity have always been fundamental in determining who is able to write, when, and where. Considering the singular experience of the African American writer, William W. Cook and James Tatum here argue that African American literature did not develop apart from canonical Western literary traditions but instead grew out of those literatures, even as it adapted and transformed the cultural traditions and religions of Africa and the African diaspora along the way. Tracing the interaction between African American writers and the literatures of ancient Greece and Rome, from the time of slavery and its aftermath to the civil rights era and on into the present, the authors offer a sustained and lively discussion of the life and work of Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, and Rita Dove, among other highly acclaimed poets, novelists, and scholars. Assembling this brilliant and diverse group of African American writers at a moment when our understanding of classical literature is ripe for change, the authors paint an unforgettable portrait of our own reception of “classic” writing, especially as it was inflected by American racial politics.

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press,The University of Chicago Press
• Subject: africa / African American authors / african american literature / American literature / American literature -- African American authors -- History and criticism / American literature -- Classical influences / ancient greece / black scholars / civil rights era / Classical influences / cultural traditions / diaspora / dignity / education / famous novelists / frederick douglass / genteel classicism / harlem / History and criticism / identity / jim crow / leisure moments / LITERARY CRITICISM / LITERARY CRITICISM / American / African-American / LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical / LITERARY CRITICISM / General / phillis wheatley / poetry / poets / racial politics / ralph ellison / religion / rita dove / rome / satire / slavery / western lit
• ISBN: 0226789969, 9780226789972, 9780226789989, 0226789985, 9780226789965, 0226789977