Hello fellows!
Thank you all for your bibliography citations and annotations. They are posted below. Over the weekend, please take a look …
Casey and Junru:
Jones, Sharon Lynette. “Langston Hughes’s Transnational Journeys: History, Heritage, and Identity in ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ and ‘Negro.’” LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History, vol. 4, 2011, pp. 74–88. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2013140160&site=ehost-live.
Langston Hughes’ poems “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and “Negro” illuminate the global, geographical — defined by Jones as “transnational” (75) — symbolism that influenced African American identity, heritage, and culture during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes contrasts waterways upholding slavery with those used for bathing to emphasize the complicated past in terms of migration and identity (78). Because Hughes was traveling to Mexico on a train while writing the poem, his personal migration parallels the Mississippi River slave trade — a complex symbol of both “liberation and captivity” (78) — thus emphasizing a geographic, transnational influence on his own identity. Jones also believes Hughes’s intense focus on the symbolism of water has three significances: 1) Fluidity. Such characteristic compare water to blood, indicating a sense of “journey and migration” rooted profoundly in all humans (79); 2) Wide geographical range. Including four geographically diverse rivers, Hughes demonstrates such migration is pervasive among African American descendants around the world; 3) Long history. The parallelism of enslavement between waterways in ancient Egypt and present America indicates slavery’s repetition through history. Through water, Hughes’ transnational gesture illustrates how Harlem Renaissance writing illuminated the experiences of people of African heritage transnationally (81). In analyzing language and references to real geographic locations and historical events associated with waterways, Jones concludes that Hughes connects African Americans with a shared identity despite differences in “time, place, and space” (87).
Additional Source:
Parham, Marisa. “Hughes, Cullen, and the In-sites of Loss.” ELH, vol. 74 no. 2, 2007, pp. 429-447. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/elh.2007.0017
Emmie & Abhi:
Dawahare, Anthony. “The Specter of Radicalism in Alain Locke’s The New Negro.” Left of the Color Line, edited by Bill V. Mullen and James Smethurst, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003, 67-8.
In “The Specter of Radicalism in Alain Locke’s The New Negro,” Anthony Dawahare looks at the success of Locke’s “Old Left” work during the Harlem Renaissance and today. Dawahare posits when reading Locke’s piece, one should consider the post-World War I context and the “ideological fight between advocate of black nationalism, socialism, and American capitalism who … struggled to position themselves as the leaders of working class black Americans” (68). His main argument is while Locke’s work impacted and promoted “racial expression, black pride, and social reform,” it neglected other political voices surrounding the discussion around “black identity, culture, and politics” in America (67). From this, Dawahare continues by saying Locke’s claim that race is only a social category (as opposed to genetic or biological) “squares nicely with the post-war ideologies of nationalism,” and his interchangeable use of “social race” and “nation” are evidence of such (69). Throughout the rest of the analysis, Dawahare acknowledges the flaws and motivations behind The New Negro, specifically that the nationalist movement is inherently exclusive to the elite and educated black population when he argues Locke’s desire to continue the capitalist system only creates a working class identity rather than a racial identity, but his motivations may have laid only to convince elites and not offend policy-makers of the time (74, 77, 81). He concludes that while Locke’s nationalism diminished much of the African American struggle, there was only so much room for digression from the political status quo.
Chris & Karen:
Solard, Alain. “Myth and Narrative Fiction in Cane: “Blood-Burning Moon.”” Callaloo 25 (Autumn, 1985): 551-562.
In his article “Myth and Narrative Fiction in Cane: “Blood-Burning Moon,”” Alain Solard argues that Toomer utilizes mythical devices in order to emphasize the racial conflict that defined the South at the time. In order to explain his argument, he starts by highlighting the “poetic and dramatic setting” of “Blood-Burning Moon” and analyzing the motivations of the characters during the climax of the story (551). Solard’s evidence comes from a close textual analysis with various interpretations from other critics. One focus of the textual analysis in this article is on the Christian imagery that Toomer employs, specifically concerning the hellish depictions of the story’s setting. Solard also notes the symbolism of the full moon’s omen as an element of Southern black folk culture. By utilizing such images, Toomer complicates the ideas and stories about the category of race and the African American experience. Solard furthers his argument about the ways in which Toomer explores racial conflict by emphasizing the relationship between Tom Burwell and Bob Stone. He suggests that the rivals are “treated as equals” and exist as two similar figures with identities that reverse (557). These ideas serve as distinct, yet contrasting views of what being black really meant in comparison to traditional norms of the time. From Solard’s perspective, Toomer paints the South as a nightmare in order to highlight the deeply entrenched racism that African Americans experienced. The conflict is thus “magnified to mythical dimensions” to suggest that racism is like an evil spell entrancing those trapped in the South (561).
Additional Source:
Borst, Alan G. “Gothic Economics: Violence and Miscegenation in Jean Toomer’s ‘Blood-Burning Moon.’” Gothic Studies 10, no. 1 (May 2008): 14-28.
Raven & Nora:
Yellin, Michael. “Visions of Their America: Waldo Frank’s Jewish-Modernist Influence on Jean Toomer’s ‘Fern’”. African American Review 43, no. 2-3 (2009): 427-442.
Michael Yellin’s article “Visions of Their America: Waldo Frank’s Jewish-Modernist Influence on Jean Toomer’s ‘Fern’” focuses on how “Fern” presents a modernized connection between the African American and Jewish communities. Yellin asserts that Toomer’s biracial heritage and influences from prominent Jewish author Waldo Frank convey his depictions of Fern. Fern is a biracial woman with both Jewish and African American heritage. Yellin emphasizes how Toomer utilizes a comparison between Jewish cantors and Fern to convey the similar struggles between the two communities. Moreover, Yellin highlights Toomer’s use of the surname Rosen to further underscore her Jewish identity. Yellin argues that Fern, in this sense, “embodies the regeneration of American culture” (427) and epitomizes the complexity of the racial composition of a modern America. In representing this emerging American diversity, Fern respectively represents modernity. Her hybrid identity and marginalized status in society contradicts the previous racial, economic, and gender norms in the United States that promoted the superiority of white, affluent men.
Yellin demonstrates how Fern connects to migration in highlighting how her life would be different if she chose to migrate North. In fact, he asserts that her fragile beauty will only endure in the South; the North will taint this innocence. The narrator faces the same dilemma, as he seeks to protect her and her beauty from impending obstacles. Ultimately, Yellin concludes by arguing that her pain and struggle are what help to shape her extraordinary beauty. He connects Fern to melancholy Jewish cantors who share their deep-rooted struggles with their audiences. In doing so, he returns our attention to the similarities between Jewish and African-American oppression.
Additional Source:
Jung, Udo O. H. “Jean Toomer: Fern.” In The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century, edited by Peter Bruck, 53-69. Detroit: B.R. Gruner Publishing Company, 1977.