Ten is the age of darkness : the Black bildungsroman / Geta LeSeur. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

LeSeur, Geta J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American fiction.

West Indian fiction (English)--Black authors--History and criticism.

West Indian fiction (English).

African American children in literature.

African American youth in literature.

West Indies--In literature.

West Indies.

Children, Black, in literature.

African Americans in literature.

Youth, Black, in literature.

Black people in literature.

Bildungsromans.

Psychological fiction, American--History and criticism.

Psychological fiction, American.

Bildungsromans, American--History and criticism.

Bildungsromans, American.

African Americans--Intellectual life.

African Americans.

Maturation (Psychology) in literature.

West Indian fiction (English)--History and criticism--Black authors.

African American children in literature--Intellectual life.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 233 p. )

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, c1995.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Ten Is the Age of Darkness, Geta LeSeur explores how black authors of the United States and the English-speaking Caribbean have taken a European literary tradition and adapted it to fit their own needs for self-expression. LeSeur begins by defining the European genre of the bildungsroman, then shows how the circumstances of colonialism, oppression, race, class, and gender make the maturing experiences of selected young black protagonists different from those of their white counterparts. Examining the parallels and differences in attitudes toward childhood in the West Indies and the United States, as well as the writers' individual perspectives in each work, LeSeur reaches intriguing conclusions about family life, community participation in the nurturing of children, the timing and severity of the youngsters' confrontation of adult society, and the role played by race in the journey toward adulthood.

LeSeur's readings of African American novels provide new insights into the work of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, and Richard Wright, among others. When read as examples of the bildungsroman rather than simply as chronicles of black experiences, these works reveal an even deeper significance and have a more powerful impact.

Contents:

Introduction. "Out of Many, One": A Case of Multiple Childhoods

I. "The Ending Up Is the Starting Out": The Bildungsroman Re/formed

II. "Behold the Great Image of Authority": African West Indian Male Initiation

III. "His Great Struggle Beginning": African American Male Initiation

IV. Womanish Girls: African American Female Initiation

V. Journeys to Selfhood: African West Indian Female Initiation

Conclusion. Ten Is the Age of Darkness

Chronology of the African American Bildungsroman

Chronology of the African West Indian Bildungsroman.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-224) and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-8262-6102-7