The contemporary African American novel
Subtitle: its folk roots and modern literary branches
By: Bernard W. Bell.
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 490
Subjects: American fiction -- African American authors -- History and criticism.; American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; Literature and folklore -- United States.; African Americans -- Intellectual life.; African Americans in literature.; African Americans -- Folklore.; Folklore in literature.
Genres: Folklore.
Description: This book begins with a personal essay in which Bell traces the evolution of his thinking about sociohistorical and sociocultural approaches to literature. He goes on to apply these approaches to the work of hundreds of black novelists whose work has been published since 1853. His primary focus, however, is on some forty novels and romances published between 1983 and 2001, including works by Gayl Jones, Toni Cade Bambara, Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Albert Murray, Gloria Naylor, Al Young, David Bradley, Leon Forrest, and Charles Johnson, as well as the neo-Black Aesthetic novelists Nathaniel Mackey, Trey Ellis, Percival L. Everett, and Colson Whitehead. In acknowledging the diversity of the tradition of the novel, Bell also examines the science fiction of Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler, the gay novels of E. Lynn Harris, Larry Duplechan, and Randall Kenan, and the detective narratives of Barbara Neely and Walter Mosley. The result is a book of impressive scope and accomplishmentan essential work for any serious student of African American literature.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 429-461) and index.
Sequel to: The Afro-American novel and its tradition.