A History of the African American Novel

A History of the African American Novel offers an updated overview of the development of the novel and its major genres.

Valerie Babb (Author)

9781107646780, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 14 July 2022

498 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.803 kg

'A History of the African American Novel is a highly readable and valuable point of reference. Each periodized chapter, alongside Babb's detailed notes and a lengthy Appendix of African American writers, gives a strong sense of canonical and less familiar black American novels in their literary, cultural, and historical contexts. The genre-based chapters trace the development of traditional and popular forms such as detective, speculative, pulp, graphic, and diasporic novels, as well as ?lmic adaptations.' Bella Adams, Modern Language Review

A History of the African American Novel offers an in-depth overview of the development of the novel and its major genres. In the first part of this book, Valerie Babb examines the evolution of the novel from the 1850s to the present, showing how the concept of black identity has transformed along with the art form. The second part of this History explores the prominent genres of African American novels, such as neoslave narratives, detective fiction, and speculative fiction, and considers how each one reflects changing understandings of blackness. This book builds on other literary histories by including early black print culture, African American graphic novels, pulp fiction, and the history of adaptation of black novels to film. By placing novels in conversation with other documents - early black newspapers and magazines, film, and authorial correspondence - A History of the African American Novel brings many voices to the table to broaden interpretations of the novel's development.

Part I. History: Introduction
1. Out of many one: the beginnings of a novelistic tradition, 1850s–1900s
2. Publish or perish: African American novels, 1900s–1920s
3. Aesthetics of race and culture: African American novels, 1920s–1940s
4. Home of the brave: African American novels, 1940s–1960s
5. Black arts and beyond: African American novels, 1960s–1970s
6. From margin to center: African American novels, 1970s–1990s
7. 'Bohemian cult-nats': African American novels, 1990s and beyond
Part II. Significant Genres of the African American Novel: Introduction
8. The neo-slave narrative
9. The detective novel
10. The speculative novel
11. African American pulp
12. The black graphic novel
13. African American novels from page to screen
14. Novels of the diaspora.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK], African history [HBJH], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Film theory & criticism [APFA]