123250 AR Literature Course - American/North American Lit./Studies (2011W)

The course will deal with representative texts by African American authors from the revolutionary years to postmodernity. What contributions have black voices made to the genealogy of U.S. literature and culture in general? Which strategies, patterns, and specific genre elements seem typical of this important discourse within American literature? We will trace the genealogy of African American literature back to revolutionary poetry in the mold of Phillis Wheatley’s verse and the first ‘slave narratives’ (Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs). Special attention will be paid to the following phases: the genre of emancipatory black literature in the Reconstruction Era (Booker T. Washington, Charles Chesnutt, Pauline Hopkins); the Harlem Renaissance (Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen); and Expatriate Literature (Richard Wright, James Baldwin). The course will end with a look at a few classics of black postmodern literature (Alice Walker, Toni Morrison). While mainly discussing poetry, autobiographies, and fictional texts (in the form of short stories and novels), we will also take a glance at key works of black non-fiction (Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois) and drama (Amiri Baraka).