Born in a Mighty Bad Land: The Violent Man in African American Folklore and Fiction Contributor(s): Bryant, Jerry H. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0253215781 ISBN-13: 9780253215789 Publisher: Indiana University Press OUR PRICE: $22.80 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2003 Annotation: A wide-ranging and illuminating look at one of the most misunderstood figures in African American story and song. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | American - African American - Social Science | Folklore & Mythology - Social Science | Men's Studies |
Dewey: 813.009 |
LCCN: 2002011578 |
Series: Blacks in the Diaspora |
Physical Information: 0.53" H x 6.08" W x 9.4" (0.79 lbs) 256 pages |
Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Sex & Gender - Masculine |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The figure of the violent man in the African American imagination has a long history. He can be found in 19th-century bad man ballads like Stagolee and John Hardy, as well as in the black convict recitations that influenced gangsta rap. Born in a Mighty Bad Land connects this figure with similar characters in African American fiction. Many writers--McKay and Hurston in the Harlem Renaissance; Wright, Baldwin, and Ellison in the '40s and '50s; Himes in the '50s and '60s--saw the bad nigger as an archetypal figure in the black imagination and psyche. Blaxploitation novels in the '70s made him a virtually mythical character. More recently, Mosley, Wideman, and Morrison have presented him as ghetto philosopher and cultural adventurer. Behind the folklore and fiction, many theories have been proposed to explain the source of the bad man's intra-racial violence. Jerry H. Bryant explores all of these elements in a wide-ranging and illuminating look at one of the most misunderstood figures in African American culture. |