Black manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines, and August Wilson
By: Keith Clark.
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Urbana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 164
Subjects: Gaines, Ernest J., 1933- -- Characters -- Men.; Baldwin, James, 1924- -- Characters -- Men.; Wilson, August -- Characters -- Men.; American literature -- African American authors -- History and criticism.; American literature -- Male authors -- History and criticism.; American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; African American men -- Intellectual life.; African American men in literature.; Masculinity in literature.; Men in literature.
Description: "From Frederick Douglass to the present, the preoccupation of black writers with manhood and masculinity has been constant. Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines, and August Wilson explores how in their own work three major African-American writers contest classic portrayals of black men in earlier literature, from slave narratives through the great novels of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison.".

"Keith Clark examines short stories, novels, and plays by Baldwin, Gaines, and Wilson, arguing that since the 1950s the three have interrupted and radically dismantled the constricting literary depictions of black men who equate selfhood with victimization, isolation, and patriarchy. Instead, they have reimagined black men whose identity is grounded in community, camaraderie, and intimacy."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-152) and index.
Table of contents: title: Countering the counterdiscourse : subject formation and the aesthetics of Black masculinist protest discourse since 1940; title: The perilous journey to a brother's country : James Baldwin and the rigors of community; title: Reimagining Richard : Ernest Gaines and the neo-masculinist literary imagination; title: Race, ritual, reconnection, reclamation : August Wilson and the refiguration of the male dramatic subject.