Cosmopolitanism in the Fictive Imagination of W. E. B. Du Bois : Toward the Humanization of a Revolutionary Art / Samuel O. Doku.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Doku, Samuel O.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963--Criticism and interpretation.

Du Bois, W. E. B.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963--Fictional works.

Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963.

American literature--African American authors--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--African American authors.

Black people--Intellectual life--20th century.

Black people.

Cosmopolitanism in literature.

Black people--Intellectual life.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xxiii, 191 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Maryland : Lexington Books, 2015.

Summary:

This book traces W.E.B. Du Bois's fictionalization of history in his five major works of fiction and in his debut short story The Souls of Black Folk through a thematic framework of cosmopolitanism. In texts like The Negroand Black Folk: Then and Now, Du Bois argues that the human race originated from a single source, a claim authenticated by anthropologists and the Human Genome Project. This book breaks new ground by demonstrating the fashion in which the variants of cosmopolitanism become a profound theme in Du Bois's contribution to fiction. In general, cosmopolitanism claims that people belong to a single community informed by common moral values, function through a shared economic nomenclature, and are part of political systems grounded in mutual respect. This book addresses Du Bois's works as important additions to the academy and makes a significant contribution to literature by first demonstrating the way in which fiction could be utilized in discussing historical accounts in order to reach a global audience. "The Coming of John", The Quest of the Silver Fleece, Dark Princess: A Romance, and The Black Flame, an important trilogy published sequentially as The Ordeal of Mansart, Mansart Builds a School, and Worlds of Color are grounded in historical occurrences and administer as social histories providing commentary on Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation, African American leadership, school desegregation, the Pan-African movement, imperialism, and colonialism in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Introduction 1

1 Africology and Hebraism: Tropes of Classical Humanism in The Quest of the Silver Fleece and The Souls of Black Folk 5

2 Good Character Challenges Hegemony in The Quest of The Silver Fleece 25

3 Heuristic Appraisal of Avant-Garde Cosmopolitanism in The Quest Of The Silver Fleece 39

4 Discrepant Cosmopolitanism in the Imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois in Dark Princess: A Romance 55

5 Universal Symbolism of Culture in Dark Princess: A Romance 73

6 Beyond the Color Line: Black Cosmopolitanism as Thematic Design in The Black Flame 89

Part II Introduction 119

7 Genesis of Traditional Pan-Africanism and Its Aftermath 125

8 A Botched Master Plan for Continental Pan-Africanism and Friends of Du Bois in Africa and the Caribbean 137

9 W.E.B. Du Bois, the Inspiration of Gandhi, and the Pan-Asian Connection 153

10 Barack Obama Epitomizes Du Bois's Vision in Dark Princess: Nkrumah and Du Bois Emerge as Unheralded Cosmopolitans 163.

ISBN:

9781498518314

1498518311

OCLC:

920453838