About the Book
Within the Circle is the first anthology to present the entire spectrum of twentieth-century African American literary and cultural criticism. It begins with the Harlem Renaissance, continues through civil rights, the Black Arts Movement, and on into contemporary debates of poststructuralist and black feminist theory. Drawing on a quote from Frederick Douglass for the title of this book, Angelyn Mitchell explains in her introduction the importance for those "within the circle" of African American literature to examine their own works and to engage this critical canon.
The essays in this collection-many of which are not widely available today-either initiated or gave critical definition to specific periods or movements of African American literature. They address issues such as integration, separatism, political action, black nationalism, Afrocentricity, black feminism, as well as the role of art, the artist, the critic, and the audience. With selections from Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown, W. E. B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Barbara Smith, Alice Walker, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and many others, this definitive collection provides a dynamic model of the cultural, ideological, historical, and aesthetic considerations in African American literature and literary criticism.
A major contribution to the study of African American literature, this volume will serve as a foundation for future work by students and scholars. Its importance will be recognized by all those interested in modern literary theory as well as general readers concerned with the African American experience.Selections by (partial list): Houston A. Baker, Jr., James Baldwin, Sterling Brown, Barbara Christian, W. E. B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, LeRoi Jones, Sarah Webster Fabio, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., W. Lawrence Hogue, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Alain Locke, Deborah E. McDowell, Toni Morrison, J. Saunders Redding, George Schuyler, Barbara Smith, Valerie Smith, Hortense J. Spillers, Robert B. Stepto, Alice Walker, Margaret Walker, Mary Helen Washington, Richard Wright
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Voices Within the Circle: A Historical Overview of African American Literary Criticism 1
I. The Harlem Renaissance
The New Negro / Alain Locke 21
The Negro in American Literature / William Stanley Braithwaite 32
The Gift of Laughter / Jessie Fauset 45
The Negro-Art Hokum / George S. Schuyler 51
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain / Langston Hughes 55
Criteria of Negro Art / W.E.B. DuBois 60
Our Literary Audience / Sterling A. Brown 69
Characteristics of Negro Expression / Zora Neale Hurston 79
II. Humanistic/Ethical Criticism and the Protest Tradition
Blueprint for Negro Writing / Richard Wright 97
American Negro Literature / J. Saunders Redding 107
What White Publishers Won't Print / Zora Neale Hurston 117
New Poets / Margaret Walker 122
Twentieth-Century Fiction and the Black Mask of Humanity / Ralph Ellison 134
Everybody's Protest Novel / James Baldwin 149
Integration and Race Literature / Arthur P. Davis 156
III. The Black Arts Movement
The Myth of a "Negro Literature" / LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) 165
Ethnic Impact in American Literature: Reflections on a Course / George E. Kent 172
The Black Arts Movement / Larry Neal 184
Towards a Black Aesthetic / Hoyt W. Fuller 199
Cultural Strangulation: Black Literature and the White Aesthetic / Addison Gayle, Jr. 207
Toward a Definition: Black Poetry of the Sixties (After LeRoi Jones) / Don L. Lee (Haki Madhubuti) 213
Tripping with Black Writing / Sarah Webster Fabio 224
IV. Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, and the African-American Critic
Preface to Blackness: Text and Pretext / Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 245
I Rose and Found My Voice: Narration, Authentication, and Authored Control in Four Slave Narratives / Robert B. Stepto 256
Generational Shifts and the Recent Criticism of Afro-American Literature / Houston A. Baker, Jr. 282
Literary Production: A Silence in Afro-American Critical Practice / W. Lawrence Hogue 329
The Race for Theory / Barbara Christian 348
Appropriate Gestures: Theory and Afro-American Literary Criticism / Michael Awkward 360
Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature / Toni Morrison 368
V. Gender, Theory, and African-American Feminist Criticism
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens / Alice walker 401
Toward a Black Feminist Criticism / Barbara Smith 410
New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism / Deborah E. McDowell 428
"The Darkened Eye Restored": Notes Toward a Literary History of Black Women / Mary Helen Washington 442
Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: An American Grammar Book / Hortense J. Spillers 454
Gender and Afro-Americanist Literary Theory and Criticism / Valerie Smith 482
But What Do We Think We're Doing Anyway: The State of Black Feminist Criticism(s) or My Version of a Little Bit of History / Barbara Christian 499
Some Implications for Related Reading 523
Acknowledgment of Copyrights 526
About the Critics 528
Index of Selected Names 531
About the Author :
Angelyn Mitchell is Assistant Professor of English at Georgetown University.
Review :
"Within the Circle is essential reading for anyone interested in American literature, twentieth-century cultural criticism, or the African American intellectual canon. It belongs on every bookshelf and, more important, as required reading within the American literature classroom. Angelyn Mitchell has done us all an invaluable service. It is a landmark achievement."-Cathy N. Davidson "As Within the Circle chronicles the development of twentieth-century African American literary criticism and theory, it illustrates the impressive breadth and highlights the critical issues of the tradition. Mitchell’s fine editorial judgment in the selection and her thorough insights in her introductory comments complete a task that scholars of African American literature have been eagerly awaiting. This anthology is a precious addition to African American literary scholarship."-Karla Holloway
