Viewing page 79 of 100

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

BOOK REVIEW                 HUDSON

WELL ORGANIZED COLLECTION EXAMINES BLACK WRITERS

GIVE BIRTH TO BRIGHTNESS: A THEMATIC STUDY IN NEO-BLACK LITERATURE. By Sherley Anne Williams. Dial Press, New York. 252 pages. $6.95.

GIVE BIRTH TO BRIGHTNESS: A THEMATIC STUDY IN NEO-BLACK LITERATURE is the author's first published work. The foundation of the study is built on the premise that today, more and more Black writers are addressing their work to Black readers and this shift has resulted in several significant changes in their literature. Mrs. Williams makes a brief but exacting examination of many aspects of the new Black literature. However, concentration is based upon the analysis of works by Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones, The Dutchman and The Slave; James Baldwin, Blues for Mister Charlie; and Ernest Gaines, Of Love and Dust. Her focus in these selected works is primarily upon the central male character and on his life style. She takes a central character and uses him in each one of her chapters in an effort to weigh his function and effectiveness on the scene in Black literature.

An analysis of the term "neo-Black fiction" is imperative to an understanding of her study. The term "neo" is employed because the literature today takes new and different forms in Black rituals. In neo-Black fiction there is continuing conversation among Black people.

Chapter 1 of this study is entitled "Heroic Tradition in Black America." The author describes the classic American hero and the Black hero. She brings out the fact that "heroism" for Black Americans has always meant some measure of revolt against social structure. These structures were the instruments of their oppression rather than their protection. A Black American totally supporting the American society and moral order is someone else's version of a hero. Black heroes are likely to be rebel leaders, streetmen, hustlers who survive through the power of their rap. Their acts produce a heroic model and tradition based on Black necessity.

In chapter 2, "Rebel and Streetman in Black Literature"-from Harlem Renaissance days to present-the game runner and street life are emerging in neo-Black fiction as a source of strength and power in the Black community. As Don L. Lee states, "their humanism is intact."

Chapter 3-"The Limitation of a Middle-Class Hero" (might be subtitles the white hero in blackface). An analysis of The Dutchman and The Slave. In the Dutchman, the makings of a hero are

77

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-21 20:06:05 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-21 20:13:12