Course info

Thematic: This survey course is an introduction to some of the major authors, canonical texts, and defining critical debates of African American literature from 1899-1989. Selected authors include Angelina Grimké, Nella Larsen, Jean Toomer, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Toni Morrison. The course emphasizes placing the literary or aesthetic questions and interventions of the tradition in conversation with its socio-political elements. We will cover the following themes: the roots of African American literature as a “peasant” literature; the role of white funders and audiences in African American literature; racial uplift ideology and the politics of class; questions of gender and sexuality; the Black Arts Movement; geographical (urban vs rural) divides and ecological elements of the tradition.

Structural: The course will revolve around close reading and (written as well as verbal) interpretation within (and beyond) the historical and literary context of the works in question. Readings include novels, short stories, poetry, drama, and essays from across the 20th century. The course is open to all and assumes no prior knowledge of African American literature.