Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines, and August Wilson

Keith Clark

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780252071959, 9780252027277
• eBook ISBN: 9780252054129
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Challenging the standard portrayals of Black men in African American literature

From Frederick Douglass to the present, the preoccupation of black writers with manhood and masculinity is a constant. Black Manhood in James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines, and August Wilson explores how in their own work three major African American writers contest classic portrayals of black men in earlier literature, from slave narratives through the great novels of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison.

Keith Clark examines short stories, novels, and plays by Baldwin, Gaines, and Wilson, arguing that since the 1950s the three have interrupted and radically dismantled the constricting literary depictions of black men who equate selfhood with victimization, isolation, and patriarchy. Instead, they have reimagined black men whose identity is grounded in community, camaraderie, and intimacy.

Delivering original and startling insights, this book will appeal to scholars and students of African American literature, gender studies, and narratology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Countering the Counterdiscourse: Subject Formation and the Aesthetics of Black Masculinist Protest Discourse since 1940
• 2. The Perilous Journey to a Brother’s Country: James Baldwin and the Rigors of Community
• 3. Reimagining Richard: Ernest J. Gaines and the Neo-Masculinist Literary Imagination
• 4. Race, Ritual, Reconnection, Reclamation: August Wilson and the Refiguration of the Male Dramatic Subject
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index