Depictions of Home in African American Literature

Inbunden, Engelska, 2021

AvTrudier Harris

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In Depictions of Home in African American Literature, Trudier Harris analyzes fictional homespaces in African American literature from those set in the time of slavery to modern urban configurations of the homespace. She argues that African American writers often inadvertently create and follow a tradition of portraying dysfunctional and physically or emotionally violent homespaces. Harris explores the roles race and religion play in the creation of homespaces and how geography, space, and character all influence these spaces. Although many characters in African American literature crave safe, happy homespaces and frequently carry such images with them through their mental or physical migrations, few characters experience the formation of healthy homespaces by the end of their journeys. Harris studies the historical, cultural, and literary portrayals of the home in works from well-known authors such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and August Wilson as well as lesser-studied authors such as Daniel Black, A.J. Verdelle, Margaret Walker, and Dorothy West.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2021-12-06
Mått161 x 237 x 23 mm
Vikt526 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor232
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9781793649638
UtmärkelserWinner of Outstanding Academic Title 2022

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Introduction: Home in African American Literature: Difficult to Define, Challenging to ClaimChapter 1: Movement, Migration, and HomelessnessMargaret Walker’s Jubilee (1966) Chapter 2: Where I Live is Not HomeJames Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953); Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970); Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog (2001)Chapter 3: Lonely Place, Unwelcoming SpaceA. J. Verdelle’s The Good Negress (1995)Chapter 4: A Mother’s Desire, A Son’s HellDaniel Black’s Perfect Peace (2010)Chapter 5: A Mother’s Domination, A Family’s SubmissionDorothy West’s The Living Is Easy (1940)Chapter 6: Wrapped in Imagination and DesireCountee Cullen, “Heritage”; Ann Petry, “Mother Africa”; Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959); Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (1973); Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977); Phyllis Alesia Perry, Stigmata (1998); Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing (2016); James Weldon Johnson; Sterling A. BrownConclusion: While We’re in This Place . . .

Harris has made a long, distinguished career of taking on topics within African American literature that seem simple enough until she unpacks the messy complexities and reveals them to be much more difficult and engaging. This latest work examines the notion of home in African American literature, and Harris quickly demonstrates that home is often not where the heart is but a dysfunctional space, riven with violence and pain. It is also filled with memory and belief systems that sustain one and it is portable in ways that go beyond the traditional definitions of “homespaces” one often relies on. Here home also becomes a space of imagination and migration. Harris reveals the fraught, complicated rendering that creates these spaces in works by such writers as Margaret Walker, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, A. J. Verdelle, Dorothy West, Countee Cullen, and Yaa Gyasi, crossing time periods and genres to catalog distinct variations while revealing the racial and religious structures that shape people's views. Harris provides an important corrective to views of home, and her work will particularly interest scholars of American literature and Black studies. Essential. Upper-division Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Researchers/Faculty.