INDEX
19 Necromancers from Now (anthology) 206 African American Literary Book Club 167
The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition (Bell) 1
Along This Way (Johnson) 48
Anglo-African Magazine (Hamilton) 21
Another Country (Baldwin) 191,
197
Appalachee Red (Andrews) 96 Arnett, Paul
art
autobiographical impulse in African American novel 5,
109,
195–196
Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (Johnson) 46–48,
125
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (Gaines) 92–93,
98
Baby of the Family (Ansa) 112
Baby Sweet’s (Andrews) 96 Baldwin, James
bisexuality in works of 198,
199–200
black artist in contemporary society 199–200
Ellison, Ralph, similarities and differences 201 homosexuality in works of 196–198,
201 James, Henry, admired by 198 love jeopardized as theme 196–199
melodrama used as technique 200
Native Son criticized by 175,
189 prodigal son parable as structuring principle 199–200
protest against protest fiction 174–175,
189 sexuality in identity 192,
201 wound as symbolic in work of 190–191
Baldwin, James, works
“Everybody’s Protest Novel,” 174,
189
If Beale Street Could Talk
191,
200–201
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone
191,
199–200
Bedouin Hornbook (Mackey) 150
Betsey Brown (Shange) 108,
116
Beyond the Limbo Silence (Nuñez) 77
The Black Aesthetic (Gayle) 30 black artist
artistic creation as form of call-and-response 260 choices available to legitimized 257 process vs. product focus of 262 role in contemporary society 199–200
self-perception in postmodern novel 149–151
Black Arts/Black Aesthetic Movement 6,
186
The Blacker the Berry . . . (Thurman) 62 black folk
blues music used to reflect 128 culture of, celebrated in the post-slavery novel 46 Renaissance era, interest in 56 black men
bisexual used for protagonist 199–200
choices available to legitimized 256 double standard for sexually active 80 emasculation, issues of 56 heroic slave model for 25 male bonding and liberation 201 models of behavior for 196 noble African model for 25 relationships, bonds and barriers in 56,
201 self-knowledge barriers 55 sexuality and freedom issues of 56 working-class life of 55,
57–58
black middle class
blues music used to reflect 128 class-lines crossed in coming of age 116 growth effect on African American fiction 50 limitations accepted by women in 128 New Negro Renaissance, novel of the 51 popular fiction of the 167 Black Nationalist approach vs. Neo-HooDooism 204
Black No More (Schuyler) 62–63
“The Black Novelists: Our Turn,” 89 Black Power Movement 30,
89,
90 Black Studies programs 3,
30,
89,
90
Black Thunder (Bontemps) 66–67
black women
appropriation of the body of 93,
101 blues woman as symbol 107 female blues tradition 130,
137 friendships between 225–226
limitations accepted by 128,
130 marginalization consequences for girls 222–223
publishing industry and 167 rape in coming of age process 109,
115 Reed, Ishmael, writing on 216 in science fiction, as protagonist 164
Black Women Novelists (Christian) 1 black women’s fiction
of the New Negro Renaissance 54 signifyin(g) revisions of, in works by Reed 215 black women writers
signifyin(g) revisions of (their) works 215–216
Black Women, Writing and Identity (Davies) 73 black writers
as collectors and retellers of stories 263,
264,
265 self-publishing of popular fiction 157,
166 Blake (character, Clotel) 27
Blake (Delany)
heroic slave character in 25 public acceptance/reception of 29 slave narrative pattern of 19
Blood on the Forge (Attaway) 132,
186
Bloodworth Orphans (Forrest) 146,
257 “Blueprint for Negro Writing” (Wright) 179 blues, the
blues woman as symbol 107 existential philosophy tied to 135
The Blues Detective (Soitos) 159 blues music
first-person voice in achieving 137 improvisation in the novel 134–135,
136 in the neo-slave narrative 93 sacred-secular, illustrated by 129,
137 as saving grace from reality of racism 58 in working-class novel 57,
58,
59 blues music techniques
blues novel
call-and-response effects in 136 female blues tradition in 130,
137 first-person voice in 137 improvisation as tool to overcoming adversity 134–135,
136 individual-community relationship portrayed 137 invisibility addressed in 133–136
naturalism elements combined in 132 sacred-secular connection in 129,
137 voice (distinctive) valued in 131 working-class life in 137 blues self as modern self 260
The Bluest Eye (Morrison) 72,
114,
222–224
blues woman as symbol 107
The Bondwoman’s Narrative (Crafts)
authenticity issues 17,
20–21,
22 Christianity as theme in 27 racial identity of the mulatto in 23 slave narrative pattern of 19 Bontemps, Arna
critical reception of works 59 boundaries and borders, physical and psychological
blues music used to break through 137 ex-isle of immigrant children 73–81
generational patterns of slavery’s effects 93–94,
212 journey of, return and 76–81
marginalization consequences 222–223
self-knowledge barriers 55
Breath, Eyes, Memory (Danticat) 79–80
God Sends Sunday reviewed by 59 tragic mulatto stereotype 23 black women characters of 26 critical review of work 29 on racial interconnectedness 22 religious themes of 27–28
tragic mulatto in work of 22–23
Brown, William Wells, works
Narrative of William W. Brown
18 “A True Story of Slave Life,” 18
Brown Girl, Brownstones (Marshall)
immigrant view of African Americans 71 internal awareness through omniscient narrator 118 journey of, return in 74,
75–76
Brown Girl in the Ring (Hopkinson) 165 Butler, Octavia
appropriation of the body in writing of
influence in science fiction writing 164 orality–textuality tension in the writing of 100 Butler, Octavia, works
Parable of the Talents
164 Calypso music and Neo-HooDooism 214
Cambridge Companion to Modernism (Levenson) 253 Caribbean immigrants
cultural elitism of 71,
81,
82 ex-isle of immigrant children 73–81
intraracial cultural barriers and 77 invisibility/hypervisibility problem 70,
77 involuntary migration of 75 opinions of African Americans 71 paradoxical identity of 72 stereotyped by African Americans 70,
81 success limitations and classism 72 Carter, Stephen L.
“Caste and Christ” (Stowe) 20
Cast the First Stone (Himes)
“Catechism of a Neoamerican Hoodoo Church” (Reed) 205
Cattle Killing (Wideman) 148,
264
The Chaneysville Incident (Bradley) 95,
100 Chesnutt, Charles
censorship by white editors 44 dark-skinned black characters of 40 oblique literary intervention strategy 44 racially indeterminate characters used by 43 signifyin(g) revision of works of
Chesnutt, Charles, works
The House Behind the Cedars
40,
44–45
The Marrow of Tradition
40,
45,
94
The Chosen Place, The Timeless People (Marshall) 77,
78 Christian, Barbara 1,
248 Civil Rights Movement
consequences for the novel 2,
186,
189 neo-slave narrative and 88,
89 scholarly study of early fiction and 30
The Claims of the Negro (Douglass) 22
Clancy Street (Tillman) 46
Clarence and Corinne (Johnson) 46 classism
of Caribbean immigrants 71 Caribbean immigrants affected by 72 against dark-skinned Blacks 131 of middle-class Blacks 131
Clotel (Brown)
Baym’s influence on interpretation of 30 racial identity of the mulatto in 22–23
slave narrative pattern of 19
The Color Purple (Walker)
black vernacular used in 235 blues music techniques used 124,
137 coming of age process in 115 relationships/connectedness in 239 womanist approach to life in 236–237,
245 writing process as life-giving in 118
Coming of Age in Mississippi (Moody) 108,
110 coming of age novel
autobiographical impulse in 109 identity deconstruction in 109 internal awareness through omniscient narrator 117–118
journey metaphor of development 111 male vs. female experiences 112–114
racial consciousness origins in 107 shattered dreams in 110–111
slavery’s memory in emancipation 107 writing process for enabling 118–119
coming of age novel, female
adulthood deferred in 115,
117 interracial relationships 116 rape in coming of age process 109,
115 sexual awareness in 113,
116–117
community
endurance made possible by 257 individual’s relationship to via music 136,
137
The Conjure-Man Dies (Fisher) 56,
159
The Conjure Woman (Chesnutt) 44
Contending Forces (Hopkins) 94
Conversations with Ishmael Reed (Henry) 206
Corregidora (Jones)
ancestry and madness in identity decentering 146–147
blues music used for healing in 93,
147 communal memory in 146–147
memory and healing in 103 orality–textuality tension in 93–94,
100
The Coupling Convention (duCille) 24 “Criteria of Negro Art” (Du Bois) 53 cross-over novels in popular fiction 167 cultural amalgamation/bridging 76–81
culture, African American
academic study of popular 156 elitism of Caribbean immigrants 71,
81,
82 ex-isle of immigrant children 73–81
immigrant vs. American allegiance to 70,
73 journey of return in cultural bridging 76,
81 New Negro Renaissance and 51,
64 post-slavery novel and 36–37,
46 Reed, Ishmael, on origin of
stereotypes of Caribbean people 70,
77 vernacular defined within 254 culture, global
journey of return in cultural bridging 76–81
New Negro Renaissance novel linked 64
Dark Princess (Du Bois) 65–66
Darktown Strutters (Brown) 148
Daughters (Marshall) 76–77
Delany, Martin R.
black women characters of 26 dialect speech used by 26 public acceptance/reception of works 29 racial identity of the mulatto 24 white authors/patrons’ influence on 20,
21 detective novel
black women protagonists in 40,
158,
160 as popular fiction 159–160
postmodern form of 139–140
social critique via genre of 159
Devil in a Blue Dress (Mosley) 160,
167
Divine Days (Forrest) 259–260
Djbot Baghostus’s Run (Mackey) 150 Douglass, Frederick
dialect speech used by 26 on racial interconnectedness 22 white authors’/patrons’ influence on 20,
22 Douglass, Frederick, works
The Claims of the Negro
22 “The Heroic Slave” 18,
25 Du Bois, W. E. B.
“Criteria of Negro Art,” 53
Dark Princess (Du Bois) 65–66
on Home to Harlem (McKay) 58 on Negro Renaissance movement 53
The Quest of the Silver Fleece
46 Dunbar, Paul Laurence 43,
46
Dunfords Travels Everywheres (Kelley) 144–145
Ellison, Ralph
Baldwin, James, similarities and differences 201 blues music used in works 133–136
Caribbean characters in works of 72 as vernacular modernist 255 wound as symbolic in work of 190–191,
194 Wright’s work linked to 132,
186 Ellison, Ralph, works
“Richard Wright’s Blues,” 132 epistolary motif in blues novel 137 “Everybody’s Protest Novel” (Baldwin) 174,
189 existential philosophy tied to blues 135
Faces at the Bottom of the Well (Bell) 165 family narrative 93–94,
257
Fatheralong (Wideman) 112 father–daughter ties in children of immigrants 74,
75–76,
78 father–son ties
Juneteenth (Ellison) theme of 194
The Long Dream (Wright) 183
Song of Solomon (Morrison)
“Female Troubles” (Wallace) 215 feminist
perspectives of black art 233 radical form satirized 216 white vs. black womanist 247 field Blacks as character model 26
The Fire in the Flint (White) 52 Fisher, Dorothy Canfield 178 Fisher, Rudolph
The Conjure-Man Dies
56,
159 Negro vogue critiqued by 62
The Fisher King (Marshall) 78
Flight to Canada (Reed) 98,
99,
149 folk novel
music and narrative used for 57 neo-slave narrative combined with 90 Renaissance era, interest in 56 self-sufficiency theme 59 folk tradition values illustrated through blues music 134
The Foremother Figure in Early Black Women’s Literature (Bryant) 24 Forrest, Leon
black men’s choices legitimized by
blues self as modern self 258,
260 characteristics of work 256 fragmentation of narrative by 261 oral tradition transitions to written form 258 postmodernist style of identity decentering 146,
149
Ulysses used as model 259 vernacular devices used by 258 vernacular modernism of 255 Forrest, Leon, works
Forrest County trilogy 96
Meteor in the Madhouse
260
There Is a Tree More Ancient Than Eden
256–257
Two Wings to Veil My Face
258–259
Frederick Douglass’ Papers (Douglass)
Free Enterprise (Cliff) 101 freedom
in coming of age novels 113–114
language in liberation process 204–205
male bonding as key to 201 mastery of the past as key to 56
The Free-Lance Pallbearers (Reed) 204,
206
The Garies (Webb)
Baym’s influence on interpretation of 30 heroic slave character in 25 racial identity of the mulatto in 23 slave narrative pattern of 19 ghetto realism fiction 162
Gifts of Power (Humez) 234
The Gilda Stories (Gomez) 165
Giovanni’s Room (Baldwin) 191,
196 girlfriend genre of popular fiction 167
A Glance Away (Wideman) 261
Go Tell It on the Mountain (Baldwin)
autobiographical nature of 109,
195–196
guilt to redemption theme 195–196
as standard in representing Negro life 184
God Sends Sunday (Bontemps) 59
Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) 177 Harper, Frances Ellen Walker
black women characters of
dark-skinned black characters of 40 dialect speech used by 26 utopian genre reinterpreted by
Harper, Frances Ellen Walker, works
healing
self-healing through separation 243 Henderson, George Wylie 59
The Hero and the Blues (Murray) 136 “The Heroic Slave” (Douglass) 18,
25
Hiding Place (Wideman) 263 Holloway House publishers 161–163
Home to Harlem (McKay) 57–58,
70,
128 homosexuality
black male inspired by white female 196 in coming of age novels 116–117
race and class intersection with 196–197
Hoodoo religion, folklore of
Hopkins, Pauline E.
dark-skinned black characters of 40 social critique in detective writing 159 utopian genre reinterpreted by 41 Hopkins, Pauline E., works
The House Behind the Cedars (Chesnutt) 40,
44–45
“How and Why I Write the Costume Novel” (Yerby) 161 Hughes, Langston
blues music used in writing 129–130
“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” 133 Hurston, Zora Neale
critical reception of works 60 protest aspects of writing 60 woman-centered narrative and 233 Hurston, Zora Neale, works
Seraph on the Suwanee (Hurston) 61 Iceberg Slim (pseud.) 161,
163 identity
deconstructed in coming of age novel 109 origins quest for claiming 227,
257 past and present in creating 226,
258 identity, black
in coming of age novels 109 marginalization consequences 222–223
identity de-centering
artist and voice in postmodern novel 149–152
as condition in postmodern novel 141 (hi)story and prophecy in 148–149,
151–152
homosexuality and insanity 147 self-reflection on artist’s function 149 skin/skin color in 145,
151–152
space used as metaphor 223
If Beale Street Could Talk (Baldwin) 191,
200–201
If He Hollers Let Him Go (Himes) 186
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Angelou) 115
Imperium in Imperio (Griggs) 41,
43
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Jacobs) 17
Infants of the Spring (Wallace) 63 “The Influence of the Black Power Movement on Historical Scholarship” (Genovese) 89
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Equiano) 18 interracial relationships
the body appropriated in 22 constancy of racial behaviors in 183 invisibility/hypervisibility paradigm 70,
77 invisibility in the blues novel 133–136
Invisible Life (Harris) 167
Invisible Man (Ellison)
blues music used in 133–136
coming of age postponed 110 death-in-life symbolism in 190 generational patterns of slavery’s effects in 94 identity deconstruction in 109 memory and healing in 103 as representative of Negro life 184,
190 structure of
Iola Leroy (Harper) 40,
42,
94 Jacobs, Harriet Ann 17,
236 jazz music
individual–community relationship reflected in 136 metaphor of belonging in 74 in New Negro Renaissance novel 52
The Jewels of Aptor (Delany) 163
John Henry Days (Whitehead) 149 Johnson, Charles
appropriation of the voice technique
on form in neo-slave narrative 97 postmodernist style of identity decentering 145,
149 Johnson, James Weldon 46–48,
125
Jonah’s Gourd Vine (Hurston) 60 Jones, Gayl
Neo-HooDooism used by 216 orality–textuality tension in works of 93–94,
100 signifyin(g) revisions in works by 216 signifyin(g) revisions of (her) work 215 journey metaphor in coming of age 111 journey of return in migration literature 73–81
Jubilee (Walker)
appropriation of the body in 101 literary form of 87,
90–92
memory and healing in 103
Juneteenth (Ellison) 191,
194–195
Kelley, William Melvin 144–145
Kelley-Hawkins, Emma Dunham 42,
43 language
African American, celebrated in fiction 60 in overcoming hostile space 226
The Last Days of Louisiana Red (Reed) 203,
204,
212–213,
216
The Learning Tree (Parks) 107
Light Ahead for the Negro (Johnson) 43
Lion’s Blood (Nivens) 165 literacy
oral tradition transitions to written form 258 popular fiction used to increase 163 writing process enabling coming of age 118–119
literary criticism
of African American novel, overview 1–3
of African American women’s art 233,
249 literature, African American
The Living Blood (Due) 165
The Living is Easy (West) 186
Lonely Crusade (Himes) 186
Looking Backward (Bellamy) 40 love, excesses of
for God, religion 229,
230–231
as theme in work of Morrison
The Lynchers (Wideman) 261,
262
Mandy Oxendine (Chesnutt) 44 “The Man Who Lived Underground” (Wright) 186
The Marrow of Tradition (Chesnutt) 40,
45 Marshall, Paule
The Chosen Place, The Timeless People
77,
78
Praisesong for the Widow
77 McKay, Claude
blues music techniques used by 128 characters as reflection of 57 critical reception of works 58 McKay, Claude, works
memory
in coming of age novels 117 memory, collective
ancestry and madness in postmodern novels 146 in coming of age novels 111 creating generational patterns 93–95,
96 tradition of slavery in the coming of age novel 107
Meridian (Walker)
historical backdrop in coming of age 108 the potential womanist in
wholeness quest in
Meteor in the Madhouse (Forrest) 260
Middle Passage (Johnson)
appropriation of the voice in 98,
99 memory and healing in 103 postmodernist style of identity decentering 145
Midnight Robber (Hopkinson) 165 migration
ex-isle of immigrant children 73–81
journey metaphor in coming of age 111 modernism
black aesthetic origins 61 blues self as modern self 258,
260 folk background in cultural development 57 New Negro Renaissance novel and 50,
52,
56 postmodernism vs.
141–143
of Wideman, John Edgar 256 modernist novel, overview 140 Morrison, Toni
anti-Bildungsroman writing 114 appropriation of the body in writing of 101,
102 Caribbean characters in works of 72–73
coming of age writing of 107,
116 critical review of work 221 house/home, meaning in work of 222 nigger joke in work of 224,
226 on reader’s role in writing 221 self-alienation, community relationship 114 on sexuality of homosexual desire 116–117
writing as dangerous act theme 100 Morrison, Toni, spaces created in prose
interior, of the enslaved 229 as metaphor for madness 222 time interwoven with 226–227,
229 of words as reflection of text
Morrison, Toni, works
Mosley, Walter
blackness attribute in detective fiction 159 blues music techniques used by 124 science fiction writing of 165 Mosley, Walter, works
Devil in a Blue Dress
160,
167 mother-daughter ties
anti-Bildungsroman use of 114 ex-ile of immigrant children 74,
75–77,
78 interracial relationships 116 mulatto
in post-slavery fiction 39 as theme, literary purpose of 24 multiculturalism
Mumbo Jumbo (Reed) 210–212
music
See also specific genre, e.g. blues music
as cultural bridge 80,
214 function in small towns 59 in working-class novel 58 Muskhogean County trilogy (Andrews)
My Amputations (Major) 149 “Narrative of the Life and Escape of William Wells Brown” (Brown) 19
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Douglass) 18,
112
Narrative of William W. Brown (Brown) 18 Native American consciousness 245
Native Son (Wright)
coming of age episode in 108 criteria for interpretation 178
Grapes of Wrath compared 177 slavery’s memory in coming of age 107 “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (Hughes) 133
The Negro in American Fiction (Brown) 1 “Negro Novel and White Reviewers” (Rascoe) 179
The Negro Novel in America (Bone) 1 Negro reconceptualized in fiction 50 “The Negro Sale” (Brown) 18
Negro Voices in American Fiction (Gloster) 1
Neither Black Nor White Yet Both (Sollors) 23 “The Neo-HooDoo Aesthetic” (Reed) 203,
205 Neo-HooDooism
improvisation represented in 217 the novel’s boundaries in 209 “Neo-HooDoo Manifesto” (Reed) 205,
211 neo-slave narrative 92,
97,
99–101
appropriation of the body in 93,
101–102
blackness reclaimed through 102 Black Power Movement and 89,
90 Black Studies programs and 89,
90 blood-ties linking Whites and Blacks in 91,
94 the body appropriated as theme in 91 Civil Rights Movement and 88,
89 epic of location as form of
forgiveness component in 91 generational patterns of slavery’s effects in 93–94,
96 historical novel, third-person form 90–92,
95 memory and healing in 96,
103 memory time vs. linear time as technique in 229 orality–textuality tension in 91–93
pseudo-autobiographical first-person form 92–93,
95 remembered generations novel form 93–94
slavery as pre-text in 96
See also Johnson, Charles Reed, Ishmael
“Newborn Thrown in Trash and Dies” (Wideman) 263 New Criticism and the novel 2 New Negro fiction characteristics 47 New Negro (new Negro) 41,
51 New Negro Renaissance novel
black culture (global) linked 64 factors contributing to growth of 50 feminist contribution to 54,
59 Negro vogue critique in the 61–62
publishing industry and 51,
52,
60 similarities/contrasts in the 50 Van Vechten’s effect on 53
Nigger Heaven (Van Vechten) 53,
128
Night Studies (Colter) 95 noble African as character type 25
Not Without Laughter (Hughes)
coming of age postponed 111 music techniques used in 124,
129–130
slavery’s memory in coming of age 107
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston) compared 114 wound as symbolic in work of 58–59
novel, slave narrative (1850–1865)
authenticity issues 17,
20 classic, characteristics of 18 evolution of pattern in
rewritten in Neo-HooDooist style 213 novel, early (1850–1900)
anti-slavery novels 19–20
authenticity issues 17,
20–22
critical review of works 29–30
dialect speech used in 26–27
mulatto, portrayal and racial identity 22 religious themes in 27–28
slave narrative patterns in
white author’s influence on 20,
21 novel, post-slavery (1865–1900)
dark-skinned black characters in 40 passing as theme in 38,
39–40
the past in, deconstructive approach to 38 racial violence theme in 35,
36 novel
passing as theme in 44–45
racial violence theme in 45–46,
47 racism, realistic portrayals of 46 novel, African American
autobiographical impulse in 5,
109,
195–196
Black Arts/Black Aesthetic Movement and 186 Black Studies programs influence 3 contemporary, overview of 10–11
critical perspectives 1–3,
4–5,
6,
48 exclusion from American literature 174 the Negro novel and 8,
51 “Negro Novel and White Reviewers” (Rascoe) 179 Wright’s criticism of
novel, white American
black character model from 25–26
English literary convention and dialect speech 26 mulatto characters in 39,
45 Southern, beginnings of 20 “Novel as Social Criticism” (Petry) 174 “Novels of the New Negro Renaissance” 8
Ollie Miss (Henderson) 59
The Omni-American (Murray) 198
Of One Blood (Hopkins) 41 “One Child of One’s Own” (Walker) 233
Our Nig (Wilson)
authenticity issues 17,
21,
22 Baym’s influence on interpretation of 30 black women characters of 26 mulatto, portrayal and racial identity 24 slave narrative pattern of 19
The Outsider (Wright) 180,
181–182
Oxherding Tale (Johnson) 98,
145
Parable of the Sower (Butler) 164
Parable of the Talents (Butler) 164 Parker, Charlie “Yardbird (Thoth)” 206,
207 passing
in post-slavery fiction 38,
39–40,
42–44
racial identity and 22,
54–55
racially indeterminate characters 42–44
“Patrick Brown’s First Love” (anon) 17,
21
Patternmaster series (Butler) 164 Petry, Ann
“The Novel as Social Criticism,” 174,
174
Philadelphia Fire (Wideman) 264
Pimp: The Story of My Life (Beck) 161 plantation fiction 19,
37 popular culture study 156
See also entries at culture
popular fiction, African American
See also specific genre, i.e. detective novel
adventure fantasy subgenre 164 black middle class reflected in 167 ghetto realism subgenre 162 novel of manners genre 168 publishing industry and 157,
161–163,
166–167
pulp fiction genre 161–163
science fiction genre 163–165
social critique via genre of 159,
163 women’s importance to 167 postmodernism
postmodern novel
ancestry and madness as theme 146,
151–152
artist and voice as theme 149–152
decenteredness as condition in 141 (hi)story and prophecy as theme 148–149,
151–152
invention strategies in 139–140
skin/skin color theme 145,
151–152
surrealism/surrealist satire as 144
Praisesong for the Widow (Marshall) 77 pre-Harlem Renaissance fiction 48 primitivism
blues/jazz music in illustrating 127 future of black race and 64 racial identity defined through 57,
59 in transatlantic modernist thinking 56 protest, literary usage of 173 protest fiction
Baldwin’s protest against 174–175
Civil Rights Movement and 186 ghetto realism subgenre and 162 of Hurston, Zora Neale 60 Wright’s influence on 186 publishing industry
increase in black-authored texts 51,
89,
90,
166–167
New Negro Renaissance novel and 51,
52,
60 white censorship of realistic representation of blackness 44 white influence in the early 21 women in/importance of 167 pulp fiction genre 161–163
quadroon, the beautiful 23,
24 “The Quadroons” (Child) 23
The Quest for Cush (Saunders) 164
The Quest of the Silver Fleece (Du Bois) 46 racial allegiance of Caribbean immigrants 70 racial equality
racially indeterminate characters and 42–45
in utopian fiction 40–42,
43 racial interconnectedness 22 racially indeterminate characters 42–45
racial uplift novels 51,
54,
57 racial violence
blues music used to illustrate 137 novel, African American 45–46
post-slavery novels of 35,
36,
47 slave culture and revolution 66 slavery as historical force in 94 racism
linguistic practices in overcoming 226 realistic portrayal, post-slavery novel 46 wounds of exposed in ordinary people 58 Rastafarian theology and Neo-HooDooism 214 reader–writer relationship
reader’s role in construction of meaning 221 reckless eyeballing, cultural 216,
219
Reckless Eyeballing (Reed) 204,
215–216
Reed, Ishmael
appropriation of the voice in writing of 98 artist and voice in postmodern novel 149 character in Japanese by Spring
214,
218 critical response to works of 203–204,
214 improvisation as metaphor for survival 206,
211 language de-centered by 208 misogynist label given to 212,
215 overview of writing style 203 postmodernist style of 143 reader–writer relationship 204 signifyin(g) revisions of (his) works 216 social commentary in writing of 213,
214 Reed, Ishmael, works
“Catechism of a Neoamerican Hoodoo Church,” 205
The Free-Lance Pallbearers
204,
206 “The Neo-HooDoo Aesthetic,” 203,
205 “Neo-HooDoo Manifesto,” 205,
211
Reckless Eyeballing
204,
215–216
Shrovetide in Old New Orleans
205
The Terrible Threes
214–215
The Terrible Twos
214–215
Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down
208–210
relationships
black men–black women relationships 212 bonds and barriers of black men 56 friendship between black women 225–226
place as component of 227 religion in early fiction 27–28
“Rena Walden” (Chesnutt) 44 “Richard Wright’s Blues” (Ellison) 132
The River Where Blood Is Born (Jackson-Opoku) 96
R.L.’s Dream (Mosley) 124 romance novel
publishing industry and 166–167
romanticism in modernism 56
Rosiebelle Lee Wildcat Tennessee (Andrews) 96 (S) Affiliated publishing company 163
The Salt Eaters (Bambara) 216
Savage Holiday (Wright) 181
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (Walker) 233 “The Second Coming” (Yeats) 141
Sent For You Yesterday (Wideman) 146,
150,
263
Seraph on the Suwanee (Hurston) 61
The Seven League Boots (Murray) 136 sexual abuse
anti-Bildungsroman use of 114 communal memory in recovery from 146–147
as means of oppression 147 rape in coming of age process 109 sexuality
awareness in coming of age novel
blues music used to illustrate 137 double standard for sexually active 80 and freedom for black men 56 limitations of socially constructed categories 196 music used for healing 147
Shrovetide in Old New Orleans (Reed) 205 signifyin(g)
vernacular artists use of 255
The Signifying Monkey (Gates) 30,
210 signifyin(g) revision
in works by Wideman
sister-girl subgenre of popular fiction
Skin Folk (Hopkinson) 165 skin/skin color
blues music reflective of 134 dark-skinned black characters 23,
26,
40,
131 invisibility concept of 70,
77,
133–136
in postmodern novels 145,
151–152
racially indeterminate characters 42–45
The Slave Community (Blassingame) 30 slave narrative, antebellum
authenticity issues 17,
20 classic, characteristics of 18 rewritten in Neo-HooDooist style 213 slavery
generational patterns due to effects of 93–94,
96,
212 as historical force of racial violence 94 as pre-text in fiction 96 spirituals in the New Negro Renaissance novel 52,
58
Sport of the Gods (Dunbar) 46
The Spyglass Tree (Murray) 136 Stowe, Harriet Beecher 19–20
Sugar in the Raw (Carroll) 119 “Surfiction” (Wideman) 264
Tar Baby (Morrison) 72,
227–228
Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (Baldwin) 191,
199–200
The Temple of My Familiar (Walker) 237,
239,
245
The Terrible Fours (Reed) 214
The Terrible Threes (Reed) 214–215
The Terrible Twos (Reed) 214–215
Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston)
blues as technique in 124,
130–132
generational patterns of slavery’s effects in 94 narrative circularity technique in 110
Not Without Laughter (Hughes) compared 114 racial consciousness origins in 107
There Is a Tree More Ancient Than Eden (Forrest) 256–257
There is Confusion (Fauset) 51
The Third Generation (Himes) 183,
186
The Third Life of Grange Copeland (Walker) 236,
239,
244 Tillman, Katherine Davis Chapman 46 “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism” (Smith) 233 “Tradition and the Individual Talent” (Eliot) 255
The Trail of Bohu (Saunders) 164
Train Whistle Guitar (Murray) 136
Trouble the Water (Dixon) 108,
111 “A True Story of Slave Life” (Brown) 18
Two Cities (Wideman) 265–266
“The Two Offers” (Harper) 19,
21
Two Wings to Veil My Face (Forrest) 258–259
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe) 19–20
Uncle Tom’s Children (Wright) 61,
176 Van Vechten, Carl
blues music techniques used by 128 influence on New Negro Renaissance novel 53
Mumbo Jumbo characterization of 211 Negro vogue critiqued by 61
Nigger Heaven (Van Vechten) 53,
128 vernacular expression
process vs. product focus 255,
262 signifying component of 255 in Wideman’s early writing 261,
262 vernacular modernism
artistic creation as form of call and response 260 of Wideman, John Edgar 255,
261
A Visitation of Spirits (Kenan) 147 voice
appropriation of in the neo-slave narrative 98–101
orality–textuality tension in the neo-slave narrative 91–93
strategies used in identity decentering 149–151
Waiting to Exhale (McMillan) 158,
167 Walker, Alice
Harper, Frances Ellen Walker linked 249 signifyin(g) revisions of (her) work 215 wholeness theme in works 239–244
Walker, Alice, works
“One Child of One’s Own,” 233
In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens
233
The Third Life of Grange Copeland
236,
239,
244 Walker, Margaret
appropriation of the body in writing of
forgiveness used as theme 91 form of neo-slave narrative 90–91,
95 oral and textual traditions used by 91
The Walls of Jericho (Fisher) 55
The Way Of The New World (Gayle) 1,
30 Webb, Frank J.
dialect speech used by 26 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, and 20 West Indian exceptionalism 71
The White Boy Shuffle (Beatty) 151–152
white fiction
black character model from 25–26
English literary convention and dialect speech 26 mulatto characters in 39,
45 Southern, beginnings of 20 white readers
alienation via Native Son
179 influence on literature 176 “Negro Novel and White Reviewers” (Rascoe) 179 white writers
influence on early fiction 20,
21 of New Negro Renaissance fiction 53 Wideman, John Edgar
art as restorative 265–266
Eliot, T. S. compared 263 postmodernist style of identity decentering 146,
148 process vs. product focus of 262 vernacular expression in early writing 261,
262 and vernacular-modernism relationship 255,
261 Wideman, John Edgar, works