The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231124724
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction by : Darryl Dickson-Carr

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction written by Darryl Dickson-Carr and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005-12-06 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In both the literal and metaphorical senses, it seemed as if 1970s America was running out of gas. The decade not only witnessed long lines at gas stations but a citizenry that had grown weary and disillusioned. High unemployment, runaway inflation, and the energy crisis, caused in part by U.S. dependence on Arab oil, characterized an increasingly bleak economic situation. As Edward D. Berkowitz demonstrates, the end of the postwar economic boom, Watergate, and defeat in Vietnam led to an unraveling of the national consensus. During the decade, ideas about the United States, how it should be governed, and how its economy should be managed changed dramatically. Berkowitz argues that the postwar faith in sweeping social programs and a global U.S. mission was replaced by a more skeptical attitude about government's ability to positively affect society. From Woody Allen to Watergate, from the decline of the steel industry to the rise of Bill Gates, and from Saturday Night Fever to the Sunday morning fervor of evangelical preachers, Berkowitz captures the history, tone, and spirit of the seventies. He explores the decade's major political events and movements, including the rise and fall of détente, congressional reform, changes in healthcare policies, and the hostage crisis in Iran. The seventies also gave birth to several social movements and the "rights revolution," in which women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities all successfully fought for greater legal and social recognition. At the same time, reaction to these social movements as well as the issue of abortion introduced a new facet into American political life-the rise of powerful, politically conservative religious organizations and activists. Berkowitz also considers important shifts in American popular culture, recounting the creative renaissance in American film as well as the birth of the Hollywood blockbuster. He discusses how television programs such as All in the Family and Charlie's Angels offered Americans both a reflection of and an escape from the problems gripping the country.

The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231510691
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction by : Darryl Dickson-Carr

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction written by Darryl Dickson-Carr and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-14 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Ishmael Reed and Toni Morrison to Colson Whitehead and Terry McMillan, Darryl Dickson-Carr offers a definitive guide to contemporary African American literature. This volume-the only reference work devoted exclusively to African American fiction of the last thirty-five years-presents a wealth of factual and interpretive information about the major authors, texts, movements, and ideas that have shaped contemporary African American fiction. In more than 160 concise entries, arranged alphabetically, Dickson-Carr discusses the careers, works, and critical receptions of Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, Jamaica Kincaid, Charles Johnson, John Edgar Wideman, Leon Forrest, as well as other prominent and lesser-known authors. Each entry presents ways of reading the author's works, identifies key themes and influences, assesses the writer's overarching significance, and includes sources for further research. Dickson-Carr addresses the influence of a variety of literary movements, critical theories, and publishers of African American work. Topics discussed include the Black Arts Movement, African American postmodernism, feminism, and the influence of hip-hop, the blues, and jazz on African American novelists. In tracing these developments, Dickson-Carr examines the multitude of ways authors have portrayed the diverse experiences of African Americans. The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction situates African American fiction in the social, political, and cultural contexts of post-Civil Rights era America: the drug epidemics of the 1980s and 1990s and the concomitant "war on drugs," the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, the struggle for gay rights, feminism, the rise of HIV/AIDS, and racism's continuing effects on African American communities. Dickson-Carr also discusses the debates and controversies regarding the role of literature in African American life. The volume concludes with an extensive annotated bibliography of African American fiction and criticism.

The Contemporary African American Novel

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Contemporary African American Novel by : Bernard W. Bell

Download or read book The Contemporary African American Novel written by Bernard W. Bell and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1987 Bernard W. Bell published "The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition", a comprehensive interpretive history of more than 150 novels written by African Americans from 1853 to 1983. This is a sequel and companion to the earlier work, expanding the coverage to 2001.

Remembering the Past in Contemporary African American Fiction

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Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807876787
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (767 download)

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Book Synopsis Remembering the Past in Contemporary African American Fiction by : Keith Byerman

Download or read book Remembering the Past in Contemporary African American Fiction written by Keith Byerman and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-05-18 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With close readings of more than twenty novels by writers including Ernest Gaines, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, Gloria Naylor, and John Edgar Wideman, Keith Byerman examines the trend among African American novelists of the late twentieth century to write about black history rather than about their own present. Employing cultural criticism and trauma theory, Byerman frames these works as survivor narratives that rewrite the grand American narrative of individual achievement and the march of democracy. The choice to write historical narratives, he says, must be understood historically. These writers earned widespread recognition for their writing in the 1980s, a period of African American commercial success, as well as the economic decline of the black working class and an increase in black-on-black crime. Byerman contends that a shared experience of suffering joins African American individuals in a group identity, and writing about the past serves as an act of resistance against essentialist ideas of black experience shaping the cultural discourse of the present. Byerman demonstrates that these novels disrupt the temptation in American society to engage history only to limit its significance or to crown successful individuals while forgetting the victims.

The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231518501
Total Pages : 423 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction by : M.A. Orthofer

Download or read book The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction written by M.A. Orthofer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A user-friendly reference for English-language readers who are eager to explore contemporary fiction from around the world. Profiling hundreds of titles and authors from 1945 to today, with an emphasis on fiction published in the past two decades, this guide introduces the styles, trends, and genres of the world's literatures, from Scandinavian crime thrillers and cutting-edge Chinese works to Latin American narco-fiction and award-winning French novels. The book's critical selection of titles defines the arc of a country's literary development. Entries illuminate the fiction of individual nations, cultures, and peoples, while concise biographies sketch the careers of noteworthy authors. Compiled by M. A. Orthofer, an avid book reviewer and the founder of the literary review site the Complete Review, this reference is perfect for readers who wish to expand their reading choices and knowledge of contemporary world fiction. “A bird's-eye view of titles and authors from everywhere―a book overfull with reminders of why we love to read international fiction. Keep it close by.”—Robert Con Davis-Udiano, executive director, World Literature Today “M. A. Orthofer has done more to bring literature in translation to America than perhaps any other individual. [This book] will introduce more new worlds to you than any other book on the market.”—Tyler Cowen, George Mason University “A relaxed, riverine guide through the main currents of international writing, with sections for more than a hundred countries on six continents.”—Karan Mahajan, Page-Turner blog, The New Yorker

Reclaiming Community in Contemporary African American Fiction

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Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN 13 : 9781617034657
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (346 download)

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Book Synopsis Reclaiming Community in Contemporary African American Fiction by : Philip Page

Download or read book Reclaiming Community in Contemporary African American Fiction written by Philip Page and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a reaction against persistent black exclusion from white American society, the novels of recent African American writers boldly celebrate the heritage of black culture. They acclaim a people once dispersed by racism and humiliation but now restoring its legacy of rich community life. For close examination of this theme Philip Page brings together five novelists who are in the forefront of contemporary fiction and shows how their voices combine for an ongoing dialogue on the importance of community to the African American world. Gaining its special force through addressing national concerns and through never backing away from the truth in the face of stubborn opposition, the fiction of Gaines, Naylor, Johnson, Cade-Bambara, and Wideman contributes to postmodernist debates on race, the repressed past, and the contemporary American conscience.

Contemporary African American Literature

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Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 025300697X
Total Pages : 393 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary African American Literature by : Lovalerie King

Download or read book Contemporary African American Literature written by Lovalerie King and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-28 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays exploring contemporary black fiction and examining important issues in current African American literary studies. In this volume, Lovalerie King and Shirley Moody-Turner have compiled a collection of essays that offer access to some of the most innovative contemporary black fiction while addressing important issues in current African American literary studies. Distinguished scholars Houston Baker, Trudier Harris, Darryl Dickson-Carr, and Maryemma Graham join writers and younger scholars to explore the work of Toni Morrison, Edward P. Jones, Trey Ellis, Paul Beatty, Mat Johnson, Kyle Baker, Danzy Senna, Nikki Turner, and many others. The collection is bracketed by a foreword by novelist and graphic artist Mat Johnson, one of the most exciting and innovative contemporary African American writers, and an afterword by Alice Randall, author of the controversial parody The Wind Done Gone. Together, King and Moody-Turner make the case that diversity, innovation, and canon expansion are essential to maintaining the vitality of African American literary studies. “A compelling collection of essays on the ongoing relevance of African American literature to our collective understanding of American history, society, and culture. Featuring a wide array of writers from all corners of the literary academy, the book will have national appeal and offer strategies for teaching African American literature in colleges and universities across the country.” —Gene Jarrett, Boston University “[This book describes] a fruitful tension that brings scholars of major reputation together with newly emerging critics to explore the full range of literary activities that have flourished in the post-Civil Rights era. Notable are such popular influences as hip-hop music and Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club.” —American Literary Scholarship, 2013

The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231130465
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945 by : Gareth Cornwell

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to South African Literature in English Since 1945 written by Gareth Cornwell and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the outset, South Africa's history has been marked by division and conflict along racial and ethnic lines. From 1948 until 1994, this division was formalized in the National Party's policy of apartheid. Because apartheid intruded on every aspect of private and public life, South African literature was preoccupied with the politics of race and social engineering. Since the release from prison of Nelson Mandela in 1990, South Africa has been a new nation-in-the-making, inspired by a nonracial idealism yet beset by poverty and violence. South African writers have responded in various ways to Njabulo Ndebele's call to "rediscover the ordinary." The result has been a kaleidoscope of texts in which evolving cultural forms and modes of identity are rearticulated and explored. An invaluable guide for general readers as well as scholars of African literary history, this comprehensive text celebrates the multiple traditions and exciting future of the South African voice. Although the South African Constitution of 1994 recognizes no fewer than eleven official languages, English has remained the country's literary lingua franca. This book offers a narrative overview of South African literary production in English from 1945 to the postapartheid present. An introduction identifies the most interesting and noteworthy writing from the period. Alphabetical entries provide accurate and objective information on genres and writers. An appendix lists essential authors published before 1945.

Contemporary African-American Fiction, Volume 1

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Publisher : Infobase Holdings, Inc
ISBN 13 : 1438182023
Total Pages : 58 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (381 download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary African-American Fiction, Volume 1 by : Jeff Soloway

Download or read book Contemporary African-American Fiction, Volume 1 written by Jeff Soloway and published by Infobase Holdings, Inc. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary African-American Fiction, Volume 1 is a collection of scholarly essays and recent reviews of the best of contemporary African-American literary fiction, including the following titles: A Mercy by Toni Morrison The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead The Mothers by Brit Bennett Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward.

Breaking Ice

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Publisher : Penguin Books
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 724 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Breaking Ice by : Terry McMillan

Download or read book Breaking Ice written by Terry McMillan and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 1990-10 with total page 724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A striking collection of works from authors both established and emerging, this is the first original anthology of African-American writing in over a decade. Featured contributors include: J. California Cooper, Marita Golden, Gloria Naylor, Darryl Pinckney, Ntozake Shange, Alice Walker, Ishmael Reed, Terry McMillan, and many others.

Remembering Generations

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Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 0807875589
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Remembering Generations by : Ashraf H. A. Rushdy

Download or read book Remembering Generations written by Ashraf H. A. Rushdy and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-01-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Slavery is America's family secret, a partially hidden phantom that continues to haunt our national imagination. Remembering Generations explores how three contemporary African American writers artistically represent this notion in novels about the enduring effects of slavery on the descendants of slaves in the post-civil rights era. Focusing on Gayl Jones's Corregidora (1975), David Bradley's The Chaneysville Incident (1981), and Octavia Butler's Kindred (1979), Ashraf Rushdy situates these works in their cultural moment of production, highlighting the ways in which they respond to contemporary debates about race and family. Tracing the evolution of this literary form, he considers such works as Edward Ball's Slaves in the Family (1998), in which descendants of slaveholders expose the family secrets of their ancestors. Remembering Generations examines how cultural works contribute to social debates, how a particular representational form emerges out of a specific historical epoch, and how some contemporary intellectuals meditate on the issue of historical responsibility--of recognizing that the slave past continues to exert an influence on contemporary American society.

The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317605632
Total Pages : 365 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature by : D. Quentin Miller

Download or read book The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature written by D. Quentin Miller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Introduction to African American Literature considers the key literary, political, historical and intellectual contexts of African American literature from its origins to the present, and also provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in African American literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as: Vernacular, Oral, and Blues Traditions in Literature Slave Narratives and Their Influence The Harlem Renaissance Mid-twentieth century black American Literature Literature of the civil rights and Black Power era Contemporary African American Writing Key thematic and theoretical debates within the field Examining the relationship between the literature and its historical and sociopolitical contexts, D. Quentin Miller covers key authors and works as well as less canonical writers and themes, including literature and music, female authors, intersectionality and transnational black writing.

The Contemporary African American Novel

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Publisher : Fairleigh Dickinson
ISBN 13 : 1611475317
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (114 download)

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Book Synopsis The Contemporary African American Novel by : E. Lâle Demirtürk

Download or read book The Contemporary African American Novel written by E. Lâle Demirtürk and published by Fairleigh Dickinson. This book was released on 2012-07-20 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how African American novels explore instances of racialization that are generated through discursive practices of whiteness in the interracial social encounters of everyday life. These fictional representations have political significance that explore the possibility of a dialogic communication with the American society at large.

Contemporary African American Fiction

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Contemporary African American Fiction by : Dana A. Williams

Download or read book Contemporary African American Fiction written by Dana A. Williams and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Contemporary African American Fiction: New Critical Essays, edited by Dana A. Williams, eight contributors examine trends and ideas which characterize African American fiction since 1970. They investigate many of the key inquiries which inform discussions about the condition of contemporary African American fiction. The range of queries is wide and varied. How does African American fiction represent the changing times in America and the world? How are these changes reflected in narrative strategies or in narrative content? How do contemporary fictionists engage diasporic Africanisms, or how do they renegotiate Americanism? What is the impact of cultural production, gender, sexuality, nationality, and ethnicity on this fiction? How does contemporary African American fiction reconstruct or rewrite earlier "classic" African American, American, or world literature? Authors under study include Ernest J. Gaines, Ishmael Reed, Edwidge Danticat, Octavia E. Butler, Olympia Vernon, Toni Morrison, and Reginald McKnight, among others. These essays remind us that the African American literary tradition is about survival and liberation. The tradition is similarly about probing, challenging, changing, and redirecting accepted ways of thinking to ensure the wellness and the freedom of its community cohorts. The essays identify new ways contemporary African American fiction continues the tradition's liberatory inclinations--they interrogate the ways in which antecedent texts and traditions influence contemporary texts to create new traditions.

The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231512152
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (121 download)

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Book Synopsis The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945 by : Oyekan Owomoyela

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945 written by Oyekan Owomoyela and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-21 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Composed by a premier scholar of African literature, this volume is a comprehensive guide to the literary traditions of Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria, five distinct countries bound by their experience with colonialism. Oyekan Owomoyela begins with an overview of the authors, texts, and historical events that have shaped the development of postwar Anglophone literatures in this region, exploring shifts in theme and the role of foreign sponsorship and illuminating recent debates regarding the language, identity, gender, and social commitments of various authors and their works. His introduction concludes with a bibliography of key critical texts. The second half of the volume is an alphabetical tour of writers, publications, concepts, genres, movements, and institutions, with suggested readings for further research. Entries focus primarily on fiction but also touch on drama and poetry. Featured authors include Chris Abani, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Cyprian Ekwensi, Uzodinma Chukuka Iweala, Helen Oyeyemi, and Wole Soyinka. Topics range from the European origins of African literature and the West African diaspora to the development of an "African personality," the establishment of a regional publishing industry, and the global literary marketplace. Owomoyela also discusses such influences as the postwar emergence of Onitsha Market Literature, the Mbari Club, and the importance of the Noma Award. Owomoyela's portrait points to the major impact of West African literature on the evolution of both African and world literatures in English. Sure to become the definitive text for research in the field, The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945 is a vital resource for newcomers as well as for advanced scholars seeking a deeper understanding of the region's rich literary heritage.

The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231130422
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945 by : Adrian A. Roscoe

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945 written by Adrian A. Roscoe and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Columbia's guides to postwar African literature paint a unique portrait of the continent's rich and diverse literary traditions. This volume examines the rapid rise and growth of modern literature in the three postcolonial nations of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia. It tracks the multiple political and economic pressures that have shaped Central African writing since the end of World War II and reveals its authors' heroic efforts to keep their literary traditions alive in the face of extreme poverty and AIDS. Adrian Roscoe begins with a list of key political events. Since writers were composing within both colonial and postcolonial contexts, he pays particular attention to the nature of British colonialism, especially theories regarding its provenance and motivation. Roscoe discusses such historical figures as David Livingstone, Cecil Rhodes, and Sir Harry Johnston, as well as modern power players, including Robert Mugabe, Kenneth Kaunda, and Kamuzu Banda. He also addresses efforts to create a literary-historical record from an African perspective, an account that challenges white historiographies in which the colonized was neither agent nor informer. A comprehensive alphabetical guide profiles both established and emerging authors and further illustrates issues raised in the introduction. Roscoe then concludes with a detailed bibliography recommending additional reading and sources. At the close of World War II the people of Central Africa found themselves mired in imperial fatigue and broken promises of freedom. This fueled a desire for liberation and a major surge in literary production, and in this illuminating guide Roscoe details the campaigns for social justice and political integrity, for education and economic empowerment, and for gender equity, participatory democracy, rural development, and environmental care that characterized this exciting period of development.

The Columbia Guide to the Latin American Novel Since 1945

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231501692
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis The Columbia Guide to the Latin American Novel Since 1945 by : Raymond L. Williams

Download or read book The Columbia Guide to the Latin American Novel Since 1945 written by Raymond L. Williams and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2007-09-21 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this expertly crafted, richly detailed guide, Raymond Leslie Williams explores the cultural, political, and historical events that have shaped the Latin American and Caribbean novel since the end of World War II. In addition to works originally composed in English, Williams covers novels written in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Haitian Creole, and traces the profound influence of modernization, revolution, and democratization on the writing of this era. Beginning in 1945, Williams introduces major trends by region, including the Caribbean and U.S. Latino novel, the Mexican and Central American novel, the Andean novel, the Southern Cone novel, and the novel of Brazil. He discusses the rise of the modernist novel in the 1940s, led by Jorge Luis Borges's reaffirmation of the right of invention, and covers the advent of the postmodern generation of the 1990s in Brazil, the Generation of the "Crack" in Mexico, and the McOndo generation in other parts of Latin America. An alphabetical guide offers biographies of authors, coverage of major topics, and brief introductions to individual novels. It also addresses such areas as women's writing, Afro-Latin American writing, and magic realism. The guide's final section includes an annotated bibliography of introductory studies on the Latin American and Caribbean novel, national literary traditions, and the work of individual authors. From early attempts to synthesize postcolonial concerns with modernist aesthetics to the current focus on urban violence and globalization, The Columbia Guide to the Latin American Novel Since 1945 presents a comprehensive, accessible portrait of a thoroughly diverse and complex branch of world literature.