the signifying monkey a theory of african american literary criticism

This superb 25th-Anniversary Edition features a new preface by Gates that reflects on the impact of the book and its relevance for today's society as well as a new afterword written by noted critic W. Title The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism ISBN 019506075X Author Gates, Henry Louis Binding Paperback Publisher Oxford. Henry Louis Gates - The Signifying Monkey a Theory of African-American Literary Criticism-Oxford University Press (1988) - Free ebook download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read book online for free. Gates uses this criticalįramework to examine several major works of African-American literature-including Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo-revealing how these works signify on the black tradition and on each other. Exploring the process of signification in black American lifeĪnd literature by analyzing the transmission and revision of various signifying figures, Gates provides an extended analysis of what he calls the 'Talking Book,' a central trope in early slave narratives that virtually defines the tradition of black American letters. It elaborates a new critical approach located within this tradition that allows the black voice to speak for itself.Įxamining the ancient poetry and myths found in African, Latin American, and Caribbean culture, Gates uncovers a unique system for interpretation and a powerful vernacular tradition that black slaves brought with them to the New World. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Volume 1 Starting at 46. Hailed in The New York Times Book Review as 'eclectic, exciting, convincing, provocative' and in The Washington Post Book World as 'brilliantly original,' Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s The Signifying Monkey is a groundbreaking work that illuminates the relationship between the African andĪfrican-American vernacular traditions and black literature. All Editions of The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism 1989, Trade paperback ISBN-13: 9780195060751 1988, Hardcover ISBN-13: 9780195034639 Books by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The signifying monkey a theory of african american literary criticism