Hello fellows!<\/p>\n
Thank you all for your bibliography citations and annotations. They are posted below. Over the weekend, please take a look …<\/p>\n
Casey and Junru<\/span><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n Jones, Sharon Lynette. \u201cLangston Hughes\u2019s Transnational Journeys: History, Heritage, and Identity in \u2018The Negro Speaks of Rivers\u2019 and \u2018Negro.\u2019\u201d <\/span>LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History<\/span><\/i>, vol. 4, 2011, pp. 74\u201388. <\/span>EBSCOhost<\/span><\/i>, search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mzh&AN=2013140160&site=ehost-live.<\/span><\/p>\n Langston Hughes\u2019 poems \u201cThe Negro Speaks of Rivers\u201d and \u201cNegro\u201d \u00a0illuminate the global, geographical — defined by Jones as \u201ctransnational\u201d (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 \u201cliberation and captivity\u201d (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 \u201cjourney and migration\u201d 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\u2019s repetition through history. Through water, Hughes\u2019 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 \u201ctime, place, and space\u201d (87). <\/span><\/p>\n Additional Source:<\/span><\/p>\n Parham, Marisa. “Hughes, Cullen, and the In-sites of Loss.” <\/span>ELH<\/span><\/i>, vol. 74 no. 2, 2007, pp. 429-447. <\/span>Project MUSE<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>doi:10.1353\/elh.2007.0017<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Emmie & Abhi:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Dawahare, Anthony. \u201cThe Specter of Radicalism in Alain Locke\u2019s The New Negro.\u201d Left of the Color Line, edited by Bill V. Mullen and James Smethurst, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2003, 67-8.<\/p>\n In \u201cThe Specter of Radicalism in Alain Locke\u2019s <\/a>The New Negro<\/a>,\u201d Anthony Dawahare looks at the success of Locke\u2019s \u201cOld Left\u201d work during the Harlem Renaissance and today. Dawahare posits when reading Locke\u2019s piece, one should consider the post-World War I context and the \u201cideological fight between advocate of black nationalism, socialism, and American capitalism who \u2026 struggled to position themselves as the leaders of working class black Americans\u201d (68). His main argument is while Locke\u2019s work impacted and promoted \u201cracial expression, black pride, and social reform,\u201d it neglected other political voices surrounding the discussion around \u201cblack identity, culture, and politics\u201d in America (67). From this, Dawahare continues by saying Locke\u2019s claim that race is only a social category (as opposed to genetic or biological) \u201csquares nicely with the post-war ideologies of nationalism,\u201d and his interchangeable use of \u201csocial race\u201d and \u201cnation\u201d 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\u2019s 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\u2019s nationalism diminished much of the African American struggle, there was only so much room for digression from the political status quo.<\/p>\n Chris & Karen<\/span><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n Solard, Alain. \u201cMyth and Narrative Fiction in Cane: \u201cBlood-Burning Moon.\u201d\u201d Callaloo 25 (Autumn, 1985): 551-562.<\/p>\n In his article \u201cMyth and Narrative Fiction in Cane: \u201cBlood-Burning Moon,\u201d\u201d 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 \u201cpoetic and dramatic setting\u201d of \u201cBlood-Burning Moon\u201d and analyzing the motivations of the characters during the climax of the story (551). Solard\u2019s 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\u2019s setting. Solard also notes the symbolism of the full moon\u2019s 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 \u201ctreated as equals\u201d 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\u2019s perspective, Toomer paints the South as a nightmare in order to highlight the deeply entrenched racism that African Americans experienced. The conflict is thus \u201cmagnified to mythical dimensions” to suggest that racism is like an evil spell entrancing those trapped in the South (561).<\/p>\n Additional Source:<\/p>\n Borst, Alan G. \u201cGothic Economics: Violence and Miscegenation in Jean Toomer’s \u2018Blood-Burning Moon.\u2019\u201d Gothic Studies 10, no. 1 (May 2008): 14-28.<\/p>\n Raven & Nora<\/span><\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n Yellin, Michael. \u201cVisions of Their America: Waldo Frank\u2019s Jewish-Modernist Influence on Jean<\/span> Toomer\u2019s \u2018Fern\u2019\u201d. <\/span>African American Review<\/span><\/i> 43, no. 2-3 (2009): 427-442.<\/span><\/p>\n Michael Yellin\u2019s article \u201cVisions of Their America: Waldo Frank\u2019s Jewish-Modernist Influence on Jean Toomer\u2019s \u2018Fern\u2019\u201d focuses on how \u201cFern\u201d presents a modernized connection between the African American and Jewish communities. Yellin asserts that Toomer\u2019s 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\u2019s use of the surname Rosen to further underscore her Jewish identity. Yellin argues that Fern, in this sense, \u201cembodies the regeneration of American culture\u201d (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. <\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Additional Source:<\/p>\n Jung, Udo O. H. \u201cJean Toomer: <\/span>Fern<\/span><\/i>.\u201d In <\/span>The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century<\/span><\/i>, \u00a0<\/span> \u00a0edited by Peter Bruck, 53-69. Detroit: B.R. Gruner Publishing Company, 1977.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. \u201cLangston Hughes\u2019s Transnational Journeys: History, Heritage, and Identity in \u2018The Negro Speaks of Rivers\u2019 and \u2018Negro.\u2019\u201d LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary Artifact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3602,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3602"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/humanitiesfellows\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}