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/lit/ - Literature

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1834392 No.1834392 [Reply] [Original]

what piece of literature from African American literature do believe is the greatest work ever written ?

My choice would be invisible man by Ralph Ellison.

>> No.1834399
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1834399

>African-American
>literature

You can only pick one.

>> No.1834403

>>1834392

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Brilliant stuff.

Though I have never read Invisible Man.

>> No.1834409
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1834409

Now, I'm going to be the stiff here, but Native Son really is just a great read.

>> No.1834413

Boring racist shitstorm about to begin.

I couldn't give a fuck what colour someone is, but Derek Walcott and Alice Walker are both black and bloody good writers.

>> No.1834420

>>1834409
Yeah Native Son is incredible.

>> No.1834427

That was more of an autobiography although some people say he lied about some of his early life.

>> No.1834437

>>1834409
I also liked Black Boy

>> No.1834438

>>1834427

True but it is still quite a good text written by a black gentleman in the age of Wilberforce and Pitt. It is a fantastic tale even if it is not true

>> No.1834439

i read native son it was painful to read for me. I love the part were bigger and his friend are masturbating in the movie theater .

>> No.1834452

>>1834392
Native Son is brave, but far from a masterpiece. The communist diatribe that comprises the last section of the book is woefully awkward (the book essentially stops being a novel). That said, it is fascinating, but Baldwin is better than Wright.

>> No.1834459

its full of angry gay, but on terms of universal lit... like comparing to Tolstoy or Melville, its pretty subpar.


But we do need more affirimative action additions to the Canon.

>> No.1834526

>>1834439
lol

>> No.1834532
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1834532

I'm a big fan of Ishmael Reed. If you were intrigued with Pynchon's 'The Crying of Lot 49', you might find interest in his 'Mumbo Jumbo.' I wouldn't consider it the greatest piece of African American literature, though. A great one worthy enough to be included in the western canon, if you trust Harold Bloom on that sort of stuff.

>> No.1834545

>>1834532
Harold bloom hates poetry slams.

>> No.1834559

Their Eyes Were Watching God

>> No.1834566

Chedda Boyz

>> No.1834575

>>1834566
That be my joint yo

>> No.1836398

bump for more black writers.

I still can't get over the scene where the narrator in Invisible Man is driving the rich white man who meets the savage black farmer who has raped and impregnated his own daughter -- and then the white man gives him $100. And the narrator's just like, "THAT's who gets $100?!?!"

That kind of shit is so fucking true in today's liberal welfare society.

>> No.1836403

>>1836398

lol you child

>> No.1836417

In Dahomey (musical)

>> No.1836423

probably one of the collection of poems by Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
and Dream Deferred probably being the most famous

>> No.1836431

>>1834559
Zadie Smith had an essay on Their Eyes Were Watching God in her last book that prompted me to pick up my old copy from high school and I was amazed how much I ended up loving it. I had virtually no memory of it from freshman year American Lit and I think I might have just read the Sparknotes. Fuckin' kids!

>> No.1836488

>My choice would be invisible man by Ralph Ellison.
>My choice would be the only one I've read.
fixd

>> No.1837349

Read some August Wilson!
Fences is great.

>> No.1837363

James Baldwin is a great African American author. I've only read The Fire Next Time so far, but I intend on reading more.