Remembering the Past in Contemporary African American Fiction

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Black, American, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies
Cover of the book Remembering the Past in Contemporary African American Fiction by Keith Byerman, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Keith Byerman ISBN: 9780807876787
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: May 18, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Keith Byerman
ISBN: 9780807876787
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: May 18, 2006
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Christian Reconstruction by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Poetics of the Holy by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book The President's Kitchen Cabinet by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Radical Relations by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Portrait of America by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book America's Founding Food by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Making Democracy Work Better by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Modern Food, Moral Food by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book The Origins of Proslavery Christianity by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Removable Type by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Stalin's Holy War by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book The Company They Kept by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book The Road to Madness by Keith Byerman
Cover of the book Race and the Making of the Mormon People by Keith Byerman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy