Category Archives: African-American literature

Amiri Baraka: jazz side of the brain

Posted on July 18, 2013 by wcd2

July 18, 2013 I’ve always loved this account of jazz from Amiri Baraka: “Jazz enabled separate and valid emotional expressions to be made that were based on older traditions of Afro-American music that were clearly not not a part of … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, African-American music, Cuba, Music | Tagged Amiri Baraka, Cuba Libre, Fidel Castro, jazz, Lucifer | Leave a comment

Children’s literature as World Literature

Posted on July 10, 2013 by wcd2

July 10, 2013 Is there a special connection between children’s literature and world literature? I’ve always wondered about this. Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, and Toni Morrison are just individual examples, and maybe they’re all flukes. Still, there they are: … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, ancient Greece, Children's literature, Educational institutions, world literature | Tagged Aesop's Fables, Bonnie Tulloch, First Book of Africa, Gertrude Stein, Herman Melville, Institute for World Literature, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Little Man, Old Greek Stories, Robinson Crusoe Written Anew for Children, Slade Morrison, the Sampo, The World is Round, Toni Morrison | Leave a comment

Turkish Munich

Posted on July 3, 2013 by wcd2

July 3, 2013 Last time I came by train. What struck me immediately, getting out of the station, was the city’s Turkish population, out in force, women wearing head scarves and not looking conspicuous, walking comfortably up and down … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Afro-Asian alliances, Cities, Diaspora, Germany, Middle East, Race, Racial violence, Turkey, Twentieth century literature | Tagged "A Mad Negro Confined in Munich, Another Country, Armenian, Croatian, Engin Cezzar, Indian, James Baldwin, Jewish, London, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Robert Lowell, Slovenian, The Fire Next Time, Turkish | Leave a comment

Natasha Trethewey, Emily Dickinson: Partners in Crime

Posted on June 12, 2013 by wcd2

June 12, 2013 In her interview in the LA Review of Books (just out), Natasha Trethewey mentions only Derek Walcott and Robert Penn Warren as poets who touch her at moments of mass fatalities. But I’d like to think that … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, contemporary poetry, Crime Fiction, Nineteenth-century literature, print medium, Universities | Tagged Beyond Katrina, Derek Walcott, Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson is Dead, Gulfport Mississippi, Jane Langton, Joanne Dobson, Los Angeles Review of Books, Mary Willis Walker, Natasha Trethewey, Quieter than Death, Robert Penn Warren, Zero at the Bone | Leave a comment

Langston Hughes’s Children Literature

Posted on May 31, 2013 by wcd2

May 31, 2013 My class, “Regional, National, Global,” has no special focus on children’s literature, but it does seem to come up a lot. I think it’s because of Langston Hughes — the uncertain borders of his poetry, holding a … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, African-American literature, African-American music, Children's literature, Cities, collaboration, Educational institutions, Ethnicity, Experimental poetry, jazz, Modernist poetry, Music, print medium, Twentieth century literature, World history | Tagged Arkansas, Bob Ericson, First Book of Africa, Franklin Watts, Langston Hughes, Sarah Robbins, University of Chicago Lab School | Leave a comment

Adrienne Rich, June Jordan: bracketing war

Posted on March 27, 2013 by wcd2

March 27, 2013 Adrienne Rich wrote the intro to the collected poems, June Jordan’s, talking mostly about meter, sound patterns, vernacular riffs. Of “March Song,” she writes: “Here she breaks what is actually a dactylic metrical line so that the … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, African-American music, Black-Jewish alliances, collaboration, contemporary poetry, Ethnicity, Jewish literature, Middle East | Tagged " Beirut, "March Song, Adrienne Rich, June Jordan | Leave a comment

Samuel Delany, Marilyn Hacker?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by wcd2

March 20, 2013 He met her on the first day, Bronx High School of Science, September 1956. They got married five years later (in Detroit — Michigan was one of the two states where interracial marriage was not illegal). … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Black-Jewish alliances, collaboration, Contemporary novel, contemporary poetry, Educational institutions, Ethnicity, Science fiction, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Babel-17, Bronx High School of Science, Detroit, Dhalgren, Heavenly Breakfast, Kennedy Airport, Marilyn Hacker, Michigan, Motion of Light in Water, Presentation Piece, Quark: A Quarterly of Speculative Fiction, Samuel Delany, The Einstein Intersection, The Jewel of Aptor | Leave a comment

Junot Diaz, Octavia Butler: Other People’s Books

Posted on March 13, 2013 by wcd2

March 13, 2013 It was 1957 and she was ten. She had managed to save five dollars, mostly in change, but still a lot of money. The public library had been fine up to this point; now she was … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Contemporary literature, Diaspora, Latino/a literature, Remix, Science fiction | Tagged " Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, "By the Book, Arundati Roy, Doris Lessing, Jose Marti, Junot Diaz, MIT, New York Times, Octavia Butler, Old Testament, Samuel R. Delany, Shikasta | Leave a comment

Philip K. Dick, Octavia Butler: Kindred

Posted on March 6, 2013 by wcd2

March 6, 2013 His middle name is Kindred. Philip Kindred Dick. I find that hard to believe. How could anyone’s middle name be a capsule summary of a large body of work still to be written? Do Androids … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Canada, Contemporary literature, Ethnicity, Science fiction, slavery, Twentieth century literature | Tagged Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Kindred, LA. Vancouver, Octavia Butler, Philip K. Dick, San Rafael, Ubik | 1 Comment

Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood: Martians and Others

Posted on February 27, 2013 by wcd2

February 27, 2013 ‘Moby-Dick’ is about the oil industry, and the Ship of American State… The mates are the middle management. The harpooners, who are from races colonized by America one way or another, are supplying the expert tech labor. … Continue reading →

Posted in African-American literature, Canada, Colonization, Comparative literature, Contemporary literature, print medium, Race, Science fiction, Twentieth century literature, Wars | Tagged Ahab, David Foster Wallace, Edith Wharton, Lilith's Brood, Margaret Atwood, Martians, Moby-Dick, Oankali, Octavia Butler, Pequod, Pquod, Raymond Carver, Xenogeneis | Leave a comment