Details

Subject(s)

• American fiction—African American authors—History and criticism [Browse]
• Women and literature—United States—History—20th century [Browse]
• American fiction—Women authors—History and criticism [Browse]
• American fiction—20th century—History and criticism [Browse]
• African American women—Intellectual life [Browse]
• African American women in literature [Browse]
• African Americans in literature [Browse]
• Social classes in literature [Browse]
• Sex role in literature [Browse]
• Race in literature [Browse]
• Harlem Renaissance [Browse]
• West, Dorothy 1907-1998—Criticism and interpretation [Browse]
• Fauset, Jessie Redmon—Criticism and interpretation [Browse]
• Hurston, Zora Neale—Criticism and interpretation [Browse]

Series

• Contributions in Afro-American and African studies ; no. 207. [More in this series]
• Contributions in Afro-American and African studies, 0069-9624 ; no. 207 [More in this series]

Summary note

African American writers of the Harlem Renaissance generally fall into three aesthetic categories: the folk, which emphasizes oral traditions, African American English, rural settings, and characters from lower socioeconomic levels; the bourgeois, which privileges characters from middle class backgrounds; and the proletarian, which favors overt critiques of oppression by contending that art should be an instrument of propaganda. Depending on critical assumptions regarding what constitutes authentic African American literature, some writers have been valorized, others dismissed. This rereading of the Harlem Renaissance gives special attention to Fauset, Hurston, and West. Jones argues that all three aesthetics influence each of their works, that they have been historically mislabeled, and that they share a drive to challenge racial, class, and gender oppression. The introduction provides a detailed historical overview of the Harlem Renaissance and the prevailing aesthetics of the period. Individual chapters analyze the works of Hurston, West, and Fauset to demonstrate how the folk, bourgeois, and proletarian aesthetics figure into their writings. The volume concludes by discussing the writers in relation to contemporary African American women authors.

Notes

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (p. [153]-156) and index.

Language note

English

ISBN

• 9798216007784
• 9780313058073
• 0313058075

LCCN

2002067840

OCLC

• 608357277
• 1435635335

Doi

• 10.5040/9798216007784

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