This is going to be a very brief survey of contemporary African-American literature. Please keep in mind that the field of African American literature is huge; you could study it for years--even make a career of studying it, as many distinguished scholars have done. The information in this lecture is simply an overview; if you want to know more, please let me know, and I'll give you some titles which will take you further.
African-American literature, like all American literature, has changed a great deal over the years. As a group which had few or no rights, early African-Americans wrote to inform others of their experiences and to preserve facts which might otherwise be lost in a time when those who recorded history were all white. But as legal and social conditions have changed, so have the goals of African-American literature. Contemporary African-American literature, according to scholar and writer Henry Louis Gates, "...remap[s] the past and [seeks] in it that which would give meaning to the present."
Several trends can be found in contemporary African-American literature. (Remember, these are generalizations; not all works contain these elements, and there are exceptions.)
- There has been a strong influence of African belief systems and rituals, and of African writers, on contemporary African-American writers such as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and many others.
- Some African-American writers, such as Alice Walker and June Jordan, have adopted the use of Black English.
- African American musical forms, such as blues, jazz, and rap, have influenced many contemporary African American writers, such as Albert Murray, Toni Morrison, and Al Young. They have used it not only for subject matter but have adapted its organizational, structural, and language patterns for their novels.
- Many contemporary African-American writers, such as Alice Walker and August Wilson, have been influenced by African-American oral tradition and the use of the vernacular used in that tradition, especially call/response patterns.
- There has been an explosion of works by African-American women writers since the 1970s. Due in large part to the influence of these women, such as Gloria Naylor, Jamaica Kincaid, and Terry McMillan, there has been a stronger emphasis on the delineation of specific black communities, and a rejection of the idea of "the black community"and an all-encompassing definition of "blackness."
- Before the 1970s, most African-American authors concerned themselves with black-white relationships; during the 1970s and since, writers have concerned themselves more with relationships between men and women, or other relationships in the community. This is apparent in the works of writers such as Terry McMillan, Gloria Naylor, and Toni Morrison.
- Generally, many African-American women writers have insisted on relating personal issues to political and global issues.
- There has been a focus on issues of class consciousness within the African-American community, as you can see in the works of such writers as Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, and Gloria Naylor.
- Increasing numbers of contemporary African-American writers have chosen to use traditional Western literary forms (the detective novel, science fiction, and horror films, for example), but have refigured them from an African-American perspective. Walter Mosley, for example, has written detective stories; Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany specialize in science fiction.
There are hundreds of contemporary African-American writers; below, I list just a few and some of their works:
- Albert Murray: Train Whistle Guitar (novel, 1974)
- Paule Marshall: Brown Girl, Brownstones (novel, 1959)
Praisesong for the Widow (novel, 1983)
Daughters (novel, 1991) - Adrienne Kennedy: A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White (play, 1976)
Orestes and Electra (play, 1980)
The Alexander Plays (play, 1992) - Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye (novel, 1970)
Sula (novel, 1974)
Song of Solomon (novel, 1977)
Beloved (novel,1987)
Jazz (novel, 1991) - Ernest J. Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying (novel, 1993)
- Colleen McElroy: Queen of the Ebony Isles (poetry, 1983)
What Madness Brought Me Here: Collected Poems 1968-88 - Lucille Clifton: Quilting Poems 1987-1990
Book of Light (poetry, 1993) - June Jordan: Getting Down to Get Over (poetry, 1977)
His Own Where (novel written in Black English, 1970) - Clarence Major: Painted Turtle: Woman With Guitar (novel, 1988)
My Amputations (novel, 1986)
Some Observations of a Stranger at Zuni in the Latter Part of the Century (poetry, 1988) - Ishmael Reed: The Last Days of Louisiana Red (novel, 1974)
Flight to Canada (novel, 1976)
Reckless Eyeballing (novel, 1986) - Toni Cade Bambara: Gorilla My Love (short stories, 1972)
The Salt Eaters (novel, 1980) - Al Young: Snakes (novel, 1970)
Dancing (poetry, 1969)
The Blues Don't Change (novel, 1982)
Who Is Angelina? (novel, 1975)
Seduction by Light (novel, 1988) - John Edgar Wideman: The Lynchers (novel, 1973)
Sent for You Yesterday (novel, 1983)
Brothers and Keepers (novel, 1984) - Samuel Delany: The Einstein Intersection (novel, 1967)
Dhalgren (novel, 1975)
Atlantis: Model 1924 (novel, 1995) - Sherley Anne Williams: The Peacock Poems (poetry, 1975)
Some One Sweet Angel Chile (poetry, 1982)
Dessa Rose (novel, 1986) - Alice Walker: The Color Purple (novel, 1982)
- August Wilson: Fences (play, 1987; Pulitzer Prize)
A Piano Lesson (play, 1990; Pulitzer Prize)
Two Trains Running (play, 1992) - Wanda Coleman: Mad Dog, Black Lady (poetry, 1979)
African Sleeping Sickness (poetry, 1990)
Hard Dance (poetry, 1993) - Octavia Butler: Wild Seed (novel, 1980)
Kindred (novel, 1988) - Yusef Komunyakaa: Neon Vernacular (poetry, 1993; Pulitzer Prize)
- Charles Johnson: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (short stories, 1986)
Middle Passage (novel, 1990) - Ntozake Shange: for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (play, 1975)
Sassafras (novella, 1977)
Betsey Brown (novel, 1985)
Nappy Edges (poetry, 1978) - Jamaica Kincaid: Annie John (novel, 1985)
Lucy (novel, 1990) - David Bradley: South Street (novel, 1975)
The Chaneysville Incident (novel, 1981) - Gloria Naylor: The Women of Brewster Place (novel, 1982)
- Terry McMillan: Mama (novel, 1987)
Waiting to Exhale (novel, 1992)
How Stella Got Her Groove Back (novel, 1996) - Walter Mosley: Devil in a Blue Dress (novel, 1990)
Black Betty (novel, 1994)
R.L.'s Dream (novel, 1995)