The Internet Book Database of Fiction

#	Date	Publisher	Binding	Cover
1	1988-00-00	Indiana University Press

Blurb:: Johnson offers a profound, lovely rumination on the state of, and practitioners of, contemporary black American fiction. Johnson analyzes the major black writers who"ve been publishing since 1970, bringing to his writing his own credentials as a successful writer. He writes of his own struggle for success and analyzes others of his generation. Johnson sets about discussing black literature by explaining it, as he would any literature, as phenomenology. He cites his references and his training to substantiate his observations. His writing is excellent and cogent. That the criticism is of black literature is incidental; he makes a fine case for phenomenological criticism for any sort of literature. Johnson gives a brief history of black literature, and, having given readers the background, leads them through more modern writing. He puts into perspective what is too often glossed over as merely notable. Includes essays on Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, David Bradley, Ismael Reed, Clarence Major, and other writers.