Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Originally published in 1984. The Sage in Harlem establishes H. L. Mencken as a catalyst for the blossoming of black literary culture in the 1920s and chronicles the intensely productive exchange of ideas between Mencken and two generations of black writers: the Old Guard who pioneered the Harlem Renaissance and the Young Wits who sought to reshape it a decade later. From his readings of unpublished letters and articles from black publications of the time, Charles Scruggs argues that black writers saw usefulness in Mencken's critique of American culture, his advocacy of literary realism, and his satire of America. They understood that realism could free them from the pernicious stereotypes that had hounded past efforts at honest portraiture, and that satire could be the means whereby the white man might be paid back in his own coin. Scruggs contends that the content of Mencken's observations, whether ludicrously narrow or dazzlingly astute, was of secondary importance to the Harlem intellectuals. It was the honesty, precision, and fearlessness of his expression that proved irresistible to a generation of artists desperate to be taken seriously. The writers of the Harlem Renaissance turned to Mencken as an uncompromising-and uncondescending-commentator whose criticisms were informed by deep interest in African American life but guided by the same standards he applied to all literature, whatever its source. The Sage in Harlem demonstrates how Mencken, through the example of his own work, his power as editor of the American Mercury, and his dedication to literary quality, was able to nurture the developing talents of black authors from James Weldon Johnson to Richard Wright.

American literature --- African American authors. --- Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), --- Contemporaries. --- African American literature (English) --- Black literature (American) --- Negro literature --- Afro-American authors --- Negro authors --- Literature: history & criticism

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

In this innovative approach to southern literary cultures, Thadious Davis analyzes how black southern writers use their spatial location to articulate the vexed connections between society and environment, particularly under segregation and its legacies. Basing her analysis on texts by Ernest Gaines, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, Natasha Trethewey, Olympia Vernon, Brenda Marie Osbey, Sybil Kein, and others, Davis reveals how these writers reconstitute racial exclusion as creative black space, rather than a site of trauma and resistance. Utilizing the social and political separation epi

Place (Philosophy) in literature. --- African Americans --- Geographical perception in literature. --- American literature --- Negritude --- African American literature (English) --- Black literature (American) --- Negro literature --- Race identity. --- African American authors. --- Ethnic identity --- Afro-American authors --- Negro authors

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

"This anthology presents underappreciated works by African Americans active throughout the nineteenth century. Readers will find familiar names in this anthology, such as Douglass, Wells Brown, Jacobs, and Du Bois, but readers will also be introduced to lesser known and even unknown African Americans worthy of discussion, such as Solomon G. Brown, H. Cordelia Ray, and T. Thomas Fortune. Mance's intention for this volume is to offer an alternative to the Norton and Houghton Mifflin anthologies that emphasize only the canonical works of African American literature in the 19th century and to introduce students--and even professors--to a variety of writings, from poetry to journalism, by African Americans who have yet to receive their due"-- "Despite important recovery and authentication efforts during the last twenty-five years, the vast majority of nineteenth-century African American writers and their work remain unknown to today's readers. Moreover, the most widely used anthologies of black writing have established a canon based largely on current interests and priorities. Seeking to establish a broader perspective, this collection brings together a wealth of autobiographical writings, fiction, poetry, speeches, sermons, essays, and journalism that better portrays the intellectual and cultural debates, social and political struggles, and community publications and institutions that nurtured black writers from the early 1800s to the eve of the Harlem Renaissance. As editor Ajuan Mance notes, previous collections have focused mainly on writing that found a significant audience among white readers. Consequently, authors whose work appeared in African American-owned publications for a primarily black audience--such as Solomon G. Brown, Henrietta Cordelia Ray, and T. Thomas Fortune--have faded from memory. Even figures as celebrated as Frederick Douglass and Paul Laurence Dunbar are today much better known for their "cross-racial" writings than for the larger bodies of work they produced for a mostly African American readership. There has also been a tendency in modern canon making, especially in the genre of autobiography, to stress antebellum writing rather than writings produced after the Civil War and Reconstruction. Similarly, religious writings--despite the centrality of the church in the everyday lives of black readers and the interconnectedness of black spiritual and intellectual life--have not received the emphasis they deserve. Filling those critical gaps with a selection of 143 works by 65 writers, Before Harlem presents as never before an in-depth picture of the literary, aesthetic, and intellectual landscape of nineteenth-century African America and will be a valuable resource for a new generation of readers. "--

LITERARY CRITICISM / Reference. --- LITERARY CRITICISM / American / African American. --- African Americans --- American literature --- African American literature (English) --- Black literature (American) --- Negro literature --- African American authors. --- Afro-American authors --- Negro authors

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

American literature --- Littérature américaine --- African American authors --- History and criticism --- Auteurs noirs américains --- Histoire et critique --- African American authors. --- African American literature (English) --- Black literature (American) --- Negro literature --- English literature --- Afro-American authors --- Negro authors --- Agrarians (Group of writers) --- American Literature --- Literatura nord-americana. --- Escriptors afro-nord-americans.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Littérature américaine --- Ethnologie --- American literature --- Ethnology in literature. --- Auteurs noirs américains --- Histoire et critique --- Dans la littérature --- History and criticism. --- African American authors. --- Ethnology in literature --- African American literature (English) --- Black literature (American) --- Negro literature --- African American authors --- History and criticism --- Afro-American authors --- Negro authors --- Histoire et critique. --- Dans la littérature.