Confluences
Subtitle: postcolonialism, African American literary studies, and the Black Atlantic
By: John Cullen Gruesser.
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Athens
Language: eng
Number of pages: 177
Subjects: Gates, Henry Louis; Gilroy, Paul; American literature -- African American authors -- History and criticism -- Theory, etc; African Americans -- Intellectual life -- 20th century; Literature, Comparative -- American and English; Literature, Comparative -- English and American; Postcolonialism -- Atlantic Ocean Region; African Americans in literature; Postcolonialism in literature; Atlantic Ocean Region -- Intellectual life; Atlantic Ocean Region -- In literature
Description: "Confluences looks at the prospects for and the potential rewards of breaking down theoretical and disciplinary barriers that have tended to separate African American and postcolonial studies. John Cullen Gruesser's study emphasizes the confluences among three major theories that have emerged in literary and cultural studies since the late 1970s: postcolonialism, Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Signifyin(g), and Paul Gilroy's black Atlantic.".

"For readers who may not be well acquainted with one or more of the three theories, Gruesser provides concise introductions in the opening chapter. In addition, he urges those people working in post-colonial or African American literary studies to attempt to break down the boundaries that in recent years have come to isolate the two fields. Gruesser then devotes a chapter to each theory, examining one literary text that illustrates the value of the theoretical model, a second text that extends the model in a significant way, and a third text that raises one or more questions about the theory. His examples are drawn from the writings of Salman Rushdie, Jean Rhys, V.S.

Naipaul, Walter Mosley, Pauline Hopkins, Toni Morrison, Harry Dean, Harriet Jacobs, and Alice Walker."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-165) and index.
Table of contents: title: The Black Atlantic : a bridge between postcolonial and African American literary studies; title: Postcolonial counter-discourse : Salman Rushdie, Jean Rhys, V.S. Naipaul; title: Signifyin(g) : Walter Mosley, Pauline Hopkins, Toni Morrison; title: The Black Atlantic : Harry Dean, Harriet Jacobs, Alice Walker.