1940s - 2000s Phenomenon (Multicultural, Postmodernism)

Question 1

On Being Brought from Africa to America

Answer 1

Phillis Wheatley
- only the fact that she wrote was a problem for the society – nobody believed her
- trial by slave owners – testing if she really wrote the poems

• not confrontational/self-confident – she’s very humble (and still she was a problem)
• grateful that she’s been uplifted
• it undermined the white supremacist ideas about US slavery

Question 2

African American Literature

Answer 2

• the basic dichotomy (art vs ideology)
• black voters were asked to take literacy tests (in order to be recognized as full citizens)

Question 3

Influences

Answer 3

1) slave narratives
- Frederick Douglas (autobiography)

2) black vernacular (dialect) folklore
- folksy wisdom of people unspoilt by civilization
- spontaneous

3) black urban experience
- 20th century largely urban

Question 4

Home to Harlem

Answer 4

Claude McKay

Question 5

The Bluest Eye

Answer 5

Toni Morrison
- topic of internalized self-hatred (you are being bombarded with being ugly..)
- the normative white gaze (you are aware of your worth in comparison with the mainstream)

Question 6

The Color Purple

Answer 6

Alice Walker
- domestic violence, sexism, female bonding, epistolary protest novel

Question 7

Invisible Man

Answer 7

Ralph Ellison
- creative modernist biography (novel), very invested in myths, masterpiece, very influential

Question 8

Go Tell It on the Mountain

Answer 8

James Baldwin
(openly gay novels)

Question 9

Native Son

Answer 9

Richard Wright

Question 10

What is Harleem Renaissance?

Answer 10

(1920s,30s)
- exodus northwards (great migration) – African American community in Harlem
- hugely contributed to American modernism by jazz music

Question 11

Postmodernism (techniques)

Answer 11

(1950s)
- flashback, multiple narration, slow motion, stream of consciousness
- mixture of genres (eclecticism)
- metafiction (reminding the reader that they’re reading)
- intertextuality