Lucille Clifton’s final book of poems call out some of the blindnesses of Christian fundamentalists.
Tag Archives: Richard Wright
Thy Will Be Done on Earth
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Black Boy, Book of Days, Christian nationalists, Fundamentalism, Lucille Clifton Comments closed
Harris’s Literary Favs Reveal a Vibrant Soul
Kamala Harris’s favorite lit reveals a woman engaging in foundational exploration, especially regarding race and gender.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Amy Tan, C. S. Lewis, immigrants, Joy Luck Club, Kamala Harris, Khaled Hosseini, Kite Runner, Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Native Son, race relations, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison Comments closed
How Literature Saved Richard Wright
In his memoir, Richard Wright describes how literature gave him a framework and spurred him to action in the segregated south.
Can Art Thwart Trump? A Debate
In which I argue with a writer who claims that art and artists have an inflated sense of their power and that they are irrelevant in the battle against Donald Trump.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Grapes of Wrath, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Invisible Man, John Steinbeck, propaganda, Ralph Ellison, social realism, socialist realism, Uncle Tom's Cabin, W. H. Auden Comments closed
Invisible Man & Lolita Changed the ’50s
Ellison’s “Invisible Man” and Nabokov’s “Lolita” both challenged basic 1950s assumptions. The former changed public perceptions on what it meant to be black while the latter violated a tacit agreement not to go digging under neatly manicured lawns bordered by white picket fences.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 1950s, aestheticism, formalism, Hans Robert Jauss, horizon of expectations, Invisible Man, Lolita, modernism, Ralph Ellison, reception theory, social protest novel, Vladimir Nabokov Comments closed
Bigger Thomas, Clarence’s Shadow
“Native Son,” 75 years old, is Justice Clarence Thomas’ favorite novel. I theorize that Bigger Thomas is the justice’s destructive shadow.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged affirmative action, Clarence Thomas, Everybody's Protest Novel, James Baldwin, Native Son, Supreme Court, voting rights Comments closed
Reading as a Subversive Act
Richard Wright’s “Black Boy” testifies to the liberating power of literature.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged American South, Black Boy, Civil Rights, racism, reading Comments closed
Reading to Feel Accepted in a Strange Land
Last year, when the book discussion group that I moderate was participating in America’s Big Read program, I was referred to this essay written for the occasion by the Indian-American literary critic Parul Sehgal, an editor at The New York Times Book Review. I particularly like how she describes feeling accepted by books, even though she […]
