American Body Politics: Race, Gender, and Black Literary Renaissance Contributor(s): Smith, Felipe (Author) |
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ISBN: 0820319333 ISBN-13: 9780820319339 Publisher: University of Georgia Press OUR PRICE: $55.05 Product Type: Hardcover Published: March 1998 Annotation: Felipe Smith tracks the emergence of particular gender images--such as white witch, black madonna, mammy, and white lady--and their impact on early African American literature. Smith gives us a remarkable synthesis of historical readings combined with a highly original contribution to the comprehension of racial thought and literary writing. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | American - African American - Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional - General |
Dewey: 305.896 |
LCCN: 97030335 |
Physical Information: 1.2" H x 6.47" W x 9.59" (1.78 lbs) 416 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Body politics have played a decisive role in American literature, especially in the work of African Americans, whose sensitivity to the tradition of misrepresenting black bodies in American culture has left indelible traces. InAmerican Body Politics Felipe Smith tracks the emergence of particular gender images in association with specific social, political, and economic pressures and explores the impact of interrelated discourses on race, gender, and nation upon the development of African American literature from the turn of the century to the early modern period. Smith focuses on gender images such as the white witch, black madonna, mammy, and white lady and examines the broad utility of body images in the discourse of black national belonging. In response to literary criticism that brackets the politics of representation under the phrase "extra-literary concerns," Smith articulates a theoretical approach that investigates the "extraliterary" as the source of some of the most powerful and enduring figurative and mythical constructs in the black writing tradition. American Body Politics is a remarkable synthesis of historical readings combined with a highly original contribution to the comprehension of racial thought and literary writing. |
Contributor Bio(s): Smith, Felipe: - FELIPE SMITH is an associate professor of English at Tulane University. |