William W. Cook, James Tatum, African American Writers and Classical Tradition. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Pp. 454.
- ISBN 9780226789965.
- $45.00.
Recension par Edmund Richardson (Princeton University) dans Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2010.08.63.
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Présentation de l'éditeur:
Constraints on freedom, education, and individual dignity have always been fundamental in determining who is able to write, when, and where. Taking the singular instance of the African American writer to heart, William W. Cook and James Tatum here argue that African American literature did not develop apart from canonical Western literary traditions but instead grew out of those literatures, even as it adapted and transformed the cultural traditions and religions of Africa and the African diaspora along the way.
Tracing the interaction between African American writers and the literatures of ancient Greece and Rome, from the time of slavery and its aftermath to the civil rights era through the present, the authors offer a sustained and lively discussion of the life and work of Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, and Rita Dove, among other highly acclaimed poets, novelists, and scholars. Assembling this brilliant and diverse group of African American writers at a moment when our reception of classical literature is ripe for change, the authors paint an unforgettable portrait of our own reception of “classic” writing, especially as it was inflected by American racial politics.
William W. Cook is professor emeritus of English and African and African American studies at Dartmouth. James Tatum is professor emeritus of classics at Dartmouth.
Table des matières:
Introduction
Chapter One. The Leisure Moments of Phillis Wheatley
Chapter Two. Frederick Douglass and The Columbian Orator
Chapter Three. The Making of the Talented Tenth
Chapter Four. Genteel Classicism
Chapter Five. Invisible Odyssey
Chapter Six. The Pindar of Harlem
Chapter Seven. It Is Impossible Not to Write Satire
Chapter Eight. Rita Dove and the Greeks
Notes
Bibliography
Index