So /lit/ what are some good African American writers?
Is Morrison worth a dime? I have a copy of Song of Salomon, I might read it.
Also is African American ficction a somehow respectable sub category of fiction? or is it just worthless.
I want to understand the African American mindset in the mid to late 20th century. I dont mind reading essays, as long as they are illustrative.
Song of Solomon is pretty good, but the ending doesn't really pay off. Still, the beginning and middle are great.
song of solomon is the worst book i have ever read.
not in terms of objective quality but in terms of disconnect between what it set out to do and what it actually achieved, and how blatant the exploitation of identity politics was. morrison basically prefigured the whole SJW movement and capitalized on "muh white guilt" "muh slavery" to a disgusting level.
>>7600299
Thats exactly what Im not looking for.
Im want some really progressive and foward thinking African American writers.
Ralph Ellison
Zora Neale Hurston
Morrison is pretty good.
Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler if you like sci fi stuff.
Jay Wright and Thylias Moss if you like poetry.
African American lit is a weird distinction. It's useful, but when you brow the shelves at bookstores you get James Baldwin stacked next to crappy black erotica.
>>7600290
The vast majority of current afro-american literature is trash but there have been quality poets and authors of african-american descent in the past.
As a general rule of thumb if its mainly about the experience of being a black person in the US and muh slavery, privilege, racism, black bodies etc then its probably trash. Even if you are black just read a few works by the people who are considered the founders of afro-american /lit/ like Douglas and then just forget all the modern stuff because its mostly trash and there is way better stuff you can read.
>>7600312
OP here.
Ive heard this is pretty good.
Has anyone read it?
>>7600290
>Is Morrison worth a dime?
She's female and black. What do you think, honestly?
>Also is African American ficction a somehow respectable sub category of fiction?
No.
>I want to understand the African American mindset in the mid to late 20th century.
it's basically 'muh oppreshun!' and 'muh victim-mentality!' and 'muh ebil white man!'
Don't listen to this cuckold >>7600312
Morrison is pretty good, The Bluest Eye is pretty brütal.
Octavia Butler is good.
Native Son by Richard Wright is solid (first 2/3s anyway).
>>7600333
Sub-par uninventive /pol/ trolling, back to the drawing board with you
>>7600323
>Douglas
Now this is what Im talking about. Should I read his autobiography?
>>7600340
>yfw it's all true
>>7600342
>being a racist
>ever
>>7600351
Sorry, I forgot the current year
I'll make sure to report myself to the local diversity re-education programme
>>7600312
>morrison
>pretty good
into the trash your opinion goes
>>7600371
>try to find a single book that has inherent literary value instead of whining about oppression
>yfw you can't
Someone post an extract from Hogg
>>7600371
>harlem "renaissance"
>produces less good literature than most cultures in decline
![1418543168508[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/i5ejjHP.jpg "1418543168508[1].jpg")
>>7600371
>>7600299
>>7600323
>>7600333
When have books ever not been about social justice? Even as far back as the Greeks, Aristotle literally wrote something titled "Politics."
>>7600384
>unironically using the term "social justice" as a good thing
fucking lol
i read for prose and aesthetics i dont give a shit if your great great grandfather picked some cotton or was poor
>>7600384
social justice is codeword for white genocide
I think making "African American Literature" a separate distinction is unproductive. Like people who list women authors as a separate genre.
If they're all written in English they should be judged by the same standards of merit. In my opinion.
>>7600290
IMO a pretty damn good read.
>>7600397
>differing opinion is automatically a troll
this isn't your liberal hugbox, sweetheart
>>7600396
Baldwin is great.
![equiano[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/La7A8yv.jpg "equiano[1].jpg")
>>7600371
>claims to be an Interesting Narrative
>is the most boring book I've ever read in my life
>>7600403
The aesthetic is, in and of itself, inherently political. Aesthetic choices have political motivations and consequences.
>>7600413
>marxists actually believe this
![holding-ears-300x195[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/G7Vgjbq.jpg "holding-ears-300x195[1].jpg")
>>7600412
>>7600384
>When have books ever not been about social justice?
We're talking about fiction, and Aristotle had more to say than "treat ppl equally lmao"
You can't make good fiction by leaning on moral platitudes.
>posts les mis
You realize many of his contemporaries shat on that right? They publicly praised it for its social commentary but disparaged it in private correspondence. I wouldn't expect a monolingual social justice pleb to understand this, but in France he was always more acclaimed for his poetry.
>>7600396
This is the type of thing Im looking for. Thank you.
Definitely go for Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain; it is without a doubt the strongest offering African American Lit has to offer. His essays are also pretty good, though the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Notes of a Native Son, which I remember fondly but am not confident its his best. Morrison is worth the read but probably a bit overrated. The Autobiography of Malcolm X definitely one you would want to check out as well. As far as contemporary authors go, don't bother with Octavia Butler cause she's a fucking hack. Kindred is almost not terrible, but not worth it. Gloria Naylor is a personal favorite because Mama Day is GOAT status, but her other works can at times be frustrating to work through.
>>7600492
I will give Naylor a shot.
I think I will read Salomon just so I can trash it later.
Invisible Man is very good. Unfortunately it was Ellison's only novel.
I liked James Baldwins first three novels and most of his essays. I think about midway through Another Country you can tell the booze is starting to take a toll on him. He had a pretty steep decline.
Edward P. Jones and James Alan McPherson are pretty good short story writers. I haven't read novels by either though and I'm pretty sure Jones' novel was well reviewed
>Library was closed today due to MLK day
FUCK NIGGERS.
FUCK NIGGERS.
>>7600492
>Go Tell It On The Mountain best African American lit
Don't think so. Go with Native Son, Invisble Man, or Their Eyes Were Watching God before Baldwin.
>>7600421
>We're talking about fiction, and Aristotle had more to say than "treat ppl equally lmao"
You can't make good fiction by leaning on moral platitudes.
did u even read any of the books mentioned here lmao
>>7600766
Unfortunately lmao
Iceberg Slim
Ishmael Reed
Derek Walcott
Amos Tutuola
More recently our boy Marlon James
>>7600838
I really enjoyed James' book of night women.
>>7600341
His autobiography is really interesting and it's pretty short too
So yeah read it
>>7600379
>black authors write about their experiences in life
>a lot of the time that has to do with racism
>"hurr write about stuff I actually care about"
kill yourself
Actually everyone in this thread shit talking black writers needs to kill themselves.
Invisible Man is seriously God-tier
Toni Morrison is great but I think Beloved is a much better novel than that
Still worth the read though
>>7600410
wat??! I loved that book. It has one of the richest subtexts of any work I've read.
You were probably too as blasted about
>muhoppression
to catch any of it.
Beloved is an excellent book. Jazz is good as well
>>7601046
>a lot of the time
More like 100% of the time.
I once tried to find some quality black literature after realizing that the only thing by a black person I'd ever read was invisible man in school.
All of it is about oppression. Even invisible man is, it just has the distinction of being good.
Finally my kindle Screensaver and Quentin Tarantino informed me that Alexander dumas was black enough to count.
>>7601046
>muh oppression
>muh social justice
>muh talking about everything except literary value and aesthetics
are you black?
>>7601293
no, not even from the USA.
Just look up uncucktheright folks.
>>7601325
is that twitter account a joke or what.
So why are dindu authors incapable of writing about anything other than
>muh slavery
>muh oppression
>muh poverty
>muh racism
>>7601342
If you consider the beauty that is the alt right a joke....
>>7601299
>lying on the internet
>>7601357
I want to die
>>7601364
english is not even my native language.
>>7601366
Hah problem there buddy?
>>7600340
Liberal opinions are not the only valid ones, like another anon said this isn't a liberal hugbox, people have differing opinions and all have some validity to them, get over yourself
>>7601389
I dont understand how these people can live in this world. Im getting sick of just reading about this Jared Taylor guy.
>>7601404
Tell your friends senpai. They seem a lot more pleasant of a community than your average group of SJW or other leftist subsections.
>>7601432
theres no way I could find anti semitism, homophobia or racism to be pleasant.
also, why did you bring the SJW/Alt right dichotomy to the table¿
>>7601443
lol cuckolded
>>7600290
You mean black not African American.
>>7600290
Just finished Things Fall Apart. It was pretty good. Its not just another muh eeeevil white man book.
>>7600420
what an ironic post! and not the good kind of ironic
>>7600290
Black fiction is a respectable category of fiction because it elucidates the perspective of an historically persecuted minority. That being said, many black writers have bristled at being pigeonholed into this genre of "African American fiction" which automatically implies an inferiority, like black people need a separate category in order to be considered legitimate. Or, that black writers are only allowed to talk about "black ppl things". James Baldwin was one of those writers, making his second book, Giovanni's Room, about a white gay couple in France so Baldwin the writer wasn't isolated as someone only important to other black people. Toni Morrison takes the opposite view, writing in interviews that her books are specifically for the black perspective "first", and that she doesn't write along the lines of a false universally human gaze just to soothe the delicate anxieties of whites. Should writers reach for the "universal"? Is that just a marketing tactic disguised as philosophy? Is the black fiction category helpful, harmful, legitimate, or otherwise? Idk man, all I know is that these following black writers are fucking amazing and if you're not reading them, you're missing out.
Nella Larson (ppl will tell you she's overrated. These people are wrong.)
James Baldwin (he's black, he's gay, he likes the French, get used to it)
Samuel R. Delany (my favorite sci fi writer)
John Edgar Wideman (deep historical perspective + Faulknerian prose)
Toni Morrison (go ahead and read Solomon, then read Beloved. I read it in a day, flipped it back around and read it again the following one. It's a vital piece of contemporary fiction.)
>>7601351
Because the ones that don't are too complicated for you.
>>7602648
Thank you, thank you.
>all these Morrison shills
Jfc
>>7602661
Nigga pls
I read Lawrence Stern for leisure. No nig can match that
>>7602715
*Sterne.
I'm sure you're right. Now be sure to never read anything that might prove you wrong.
Check out Ishmael Reed. He knows more about it than you will ever find here.
>>7600290
Nathaniel Mackey with his jazz trilogy
i quite latterly dropped my african american lit class just because I do not want to read a million slave narratives. Afro-futurism is where it's at, though.
>>7600299
>I Didn't understand the book
>>7600759
I've always had problem with Native Son, wouldn't rank it close to Baldwin. I preferred Uncle Tom's Children, but that isn't a novel. Which brings me to the problem with Invisible Man: it is good, but as a series of vignettes, not as a novel. Go Tell It is superior in that regard. Hurston in general can get bent but Their Eyes Were Watching God is worth a read at least, but not the best
>>7604370
>sjw detected
>>7604450
>caring about the traditional definition of a novel post 20th century.
you shouldnt do this.
>>7604481
Well memed m'sir. Doesn't change the fact that Invisible Man is a case of the sum being lesser than the parts.
>no chester himes
black crime fiction is pretty notable imo in its distinctiveness
