Studies in American Literature II:  The African-American Novel

This course is a senior level 3 credit survey of the novel as an African-American form.  We will begin with the 19^th C and proceed towards the current century.  In the process, we will cover many of the major trends of American Literature, from Naturalism to Realism to Romanticism. 

One important question to ask is why Study African American Cultures at all? Why not simply teach African American writers as part of the broader canon of American Lit?  Why a special course?  What special considerations and concerns does the African American novelist bring to literature that merits deeper study as a whole genre?   

Early Warning System:  This class is READING INTENSIVE.  Several of these novels are large, and will take a while to read.  I recommend starting early to get a jump on the larger chunks of reading we have.  If you cannot keep up, please see me as soon as you possibly can.  We will move chronologically according to when the text was published.  Dates are pretty important here, so an awareness of the historical period in which the text was written is crucial. Bone up on your American history—at least know the broad trends.

Some Goals I Have for You:

• An appreciation for the broad scope of African-American writing in the 20^th and 21^st centuries from which to draw in future learning activities (inside and beyond school)
• The ability to make connection between a literary text (its themes, plot, characters, setting) and one's own life
• Increased vocabulary and strengthened writing and critical thinking abilities
•   Increased facility in classroom discussion (listening and speaking)

Grading:

Annotated Bibliography & Proposal 10%

Critical Essay: 30%

In-class report of critical article with handout: 20%

Daily Reading Journals:  20%

Attendance/Participation:  10%

Final Week Oral Reports:  10%

Final Project: Original Research Project, Critical Essay

Your final assignment for this class will be an essay on your research for the semester. The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to produce a potentially publishable essay reporting on research that you have conducted this semester. The final paper should be at least 15 pages in length (double-spaced, typewritten, 1" margins, 12-point font, and documented using the 6th edition of the MLA Guide).  The draft of this paper must include a recognizable beginning, middle, and end; be proofread carefully; and be at least 12 pages in length.

Daily Reports: 

A one-page summary of a scholarly article or book chapter is due each day.  Sign up for your report in the first class meeting.  You should bring a print copy AND post your summary on your Blog. You should have a handout for each member of the class summarizing the main points of the article/chapter you read/report.

 

Required Texts + Reading Order:

Week 1   1853 William Wells Brown Clotel   available online at      http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/brown/menu.html

Week 2   1899 Sutton Griggs Imperium in Imperio online at      http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/GriImpe.html

Week 3   1924 Jessie Redmon Fauset There is Confusion

Week 4   1937 Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God

Week 5   1940  Richard Wright Native Son

Week 6   1946 Ann Petry The Street

Week 7   1952  Ralph Ellison Invisible Man

Week 8   1972 Ishmael Reed Mumbo Jumbo

Week 9   1988 Gloria Naylor Mama Day

Week 10 1988 Toni Morrison   Beloved

Week 11           Catch up week

Week 12 Student Reports

 

Supplemental Texts, Suggested Critical Reading

Anderson, Jervis.  This Was Harlem:  A Cultural Portrait, 1900-1950.

New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1982.  (R, 974.71, A547).

Baker, Houston A.  Long Black Song:  Essays in Black American

Literature and Culture.  Charlottesville: University Press of

Virginia, 1972.  (C, 917.30696, B167).

Bell, Bernard W.  The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition.  Amherst:

The University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.  (C, 813.009896,

B433, 88-63345).

Brawley, Benjamin Griffith.  Negro Genius:  A New Appraisal of the

Achievement of the American Negro in Literature and the Fine

Arts.  New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1937.  (C, 325.26, B82n).

_____.  Negro in Literature and Art in the United States.  3rd ed.  New

             York: Duffield and Co., 1929.  (C, 325.26, B82a).

Butcher, Margaret Just.  Negro in American Culture, Based on Materials

Left by Alain Locke.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.  (C,

325.260973, B983).

Cruse, Harold.  The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual.  London: W. H.

Allen, 1969.  (C, 917.3097496, C957, 1969).

Bruce, Dickson D.  Black American Writing from the Nadir:  The

Evolution of a Literary Tradition, 1877-1915.  Baton Rouge:

Louisiana State University Press, 1989.  (C, 810.9896073, B886,

89-25468).

Evans, James H.  Spiritual Empowerment in Afro-American Literature:

Frederick Douglass, Rebecca Jackson, Booker T. Washington,

Richard Wright, and Toni Morrison.  Studies in Art and Religious

Interpretation, vol. 6. Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, 1987.  (C,

810.9896073, E92, 88-032654).

Fox, Robert Elliot.  Conscientious Sorcerers:  The Black Postmodernist

Fiction of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, and Samuel

R. Delany. Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies,

no. 106.  New York: Greenwood, 1987.  (C, 813.5409896, F793,

87-054457).

Gates, Henry Louis.  Figures in Black:  Words, Signs, and the "Racial"

Self. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.  (C, 810.9896073,

G259, 87-035675).

_____.  The Signifying Monkey:  A Theory of Afro-American Literary

Criticism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. (C,

810.9896073, G259, 88-63655).

_____. ed.  Black Literature and Literary Theory.  New York: Methuen,

1984. (C, 813.009896, B627, 85-31392).

_____. and Evelyn B. Higginbotham. African American Lives. NY: oxford UP,        2004.

Gay, Geneva, and Willie L. Baber, eds.  Expressively Black:  The

Cultural Basis of Ethnic Identity.  New York: Praeger, 1987.  (C,

700.8996073, E96, 88-015851).

Gayle, Addison, comp.  Black Aesthetic.  Garden City, NY: Doubleday,

1971. (Z, 709.73, G287).

Gayle, Addison.  The Way of the New World:  The Black Novel in

America. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1975.  (C, 813.03,

G287, 75-8099).

_____.  Richard Wright:  Ordeal of a Native Son.  Garden City, NY:

Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1980.  (C, 813.52, W952, 80-29162).

Huggins, Nathan Irvin.  Harlem Renaissance.  New York: Oxford

University Press, 1971.  (Z, 700.97471, H891).

Lewis, David L.  When Harlem Was in Vogue.  New York: Knopf, 1981.

(C, 700,8996073, L673, 81-33276).

Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination.          Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1992.

Pryse, Marjorie, and Hortense J. Spillers, ed. Conjuring: Black Women,          Fiction, and Literary Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1985.

Schechter, William.  History of Negro Humor in America.  New York:

Fleet Press, 1970.  (C, 917.3097496, S314).

Schoener, Allon, comp.  Harlem on My Mind:  Cultural Capital of Black

America, 1900-1968.  New York: Random House, 1969.  (R,

974.71, qS365).

Zackodnik, Teresa C. The Mulatta and the Politics of Race. Jackson: UP of     Mississippi, 2004.

Useful Websites:
Slavery & Yale:  http://www.yaleslavery.org/

Bibliography of African American Studies:  http://www.library.uiuc.edu/afx/aastudies.htm

African American Literature Resources:

http://www.lang.osaka-u.ac.jp/~krkvls/afrolit.html

The PAL site: http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/black.html

A reference guide from U of Delaware:  http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/blks/resguide/afambio.htm