Bragg, B: Reading Contemporary African American Literature
Beschreibung:
Reading Contemporary African American Literature focuses on the subject of contemporary African American popular fiction by women. Bragg's study addresses why such work should be the subject of scholarly examination, describes the events and attitudes which account for the critical neglect of this body of work, and models a critical approach to such narratives that demonstrates the distinctive ways in which this literature captures the complexities of post-civil rights era black experiences. In making her arguments regarding the value of popular writing, Bragg argues that black women's popular fiction foregrounds gender in ways that are frequently missing from other modes of narrative production. They exhibit a responsiveness and timeliness to the shifting social terrain which is reflected in the rapidly shifting styles and themes which characterize popular fiction. In doing so, they extend the historical function of African American literature by continuing to engage the black body as a symbol of political meaning in the social context of the United States. In popular literature Beauty Bragg locates a space from which black women engage a variety of public discourses.
This book covers several distinctive moments of the post-civil rights era; the black power period, the affirmative action period, and the neoliberal period. It inspects representative texts and critical approaches associated with each period, covering a variety of authors and genres from Toni Morrison¿s mythic fiction to Wahida Clark¿s street lit.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Locating an African American Literary TraditionChapter 1: The Reconstructionist Canon, Black Feminist Literary Perspectives, and Popular PotentialChapter 2: Toni Morrison's Tar Baby and the Problem of ClassificationChapter 3: Girlfriend Fiction: Black Women Writers and Readers Negotiating Post-Civil Rights WomanhoodChapter 4: Feminism and the Streets: Urban Fiction and the Quest for Female Independence in the Era of Transactional SexualityChapter 5: Hip Hop Tell-All Memoirs and Modes of Self-ConstructionConclusion: From Critical Practice to Classroom PracticeBibliographyIndexAbout the Author