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It is widely accepted that the canon of African American literature has racial realism at its core: African American protagonists, social settings, cultural symbols, and racial-political discourse. As a result, writings that are not preoccupied with race have long been invisible—unpublished, out of print, absent from libraries, rarely discussed among scholars, and omitted from anthologies.

However, some of our most celebrated African American authors—from Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright to James Baldwin and Toni Morrison—have resisted this canonical rule, even at the cost of critical dismissal and commercial failure. African American Literature Beyond Race revives this remarkable literary corpus, presenting sixteen short stories, novelettes, and excerpts of novels-from the postbellum nineteenth century to the late twentieth century-that demonstrate this act of literary defiance. Each selection is paired with an original introduction by one of today's leading scholars of African American literature, including Hazel V. Carby, Gerald Early, Mae G. Henderson, George Hutchinson, Carla Peterson, Amritjit Singh, and Werner Sollors.

By casting African Americans in minor roles and marking the protagonists as racially white, neutral, or ambiguous, these works of fiction explore the thematic complexities of human identity, relations, and culture. At the same time, they force us to confront the basic question, "What is African American literature?"

Stories by: James Baldwin, Octavia E. Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Chester B. Himes, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larsen, Toni Morrison, Ann Petry, Wallace Thurman, Jean Toomer, Frank J. Webb, Richard Wright, and Frank Yerby.

Critical Introductions by: Hazel V. Carby, John Charles, Gerald Early, Hazel Arnett Ervin, Matthew Guterl, Mae G. Henderson, George B. Hutchinson, Gene Jarrett, Carla L. Peterson, Amritjit Singh, WernerSollors, and Jeffrey Allen Tucker.

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Challenging the conception of empowerment associated with the Black Power Movement and its political and intellectual legacies in the present, Darieck Scott contends that power can be found not only in martial resistance, but, surprisingly, where the black body has been inflicted with harm or humiliation.

Theorizing the relation between blackness and abjection by foregrounding often neglected depictions of the sexual exploitation and humiliation of men in works by James Weldon Johnson, Toni Morrison, Amiri Baraka, and Samuel R. Delany, Extravagant Abjection asks: If we're racialized through domination and abjection, what is the political, personal, and psychological potential in racialization-through-abjection? Using the figure of male rape as a lens through which to examine this question, Scott argues that blackness in relation to abjection endows its inheritors with a form of counter-intuitive power—indeed, what can be thought of as a revised notion of black power. This power is found at the point at which ego, identity, body, race, and nation seem to reveal themselves as utterly penetrated and compromised, without defensible boundary. Yet in Extravagant Abjection, “power” assumes an unexpected and paradoxical form.

In arguing that blackness endows its inheritors with a surprising form of counter-intuitive power—as a resource for the political present—found at the very point of violation, Extravagant Abjection enriches our understanding of the construction of black male identity.

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Blackness and Abjection
Scott, Darieck, "Extravagant Abjection: Blackness, Power and Sexuality in the African American Literary Imagination". NYU Press, 2010.

Blackness and Abjection

Amos Lassen


Power in the Black community is found in various places. Darieck Scott maintains in this book that power is found not only in martial resistance but also where the black body has either been harmed or humiliated or both. He looks to literature to support this and considers the writings of Toni Morrison,James Weldon Johnson, Amiri Baraka and Samuel R. Delany. We work with the question of what is the political, personal and psychological value in "racialization" through abjection. Sounds somewhat complicated but as you read this book, it all becomes clear. Scott uses male rape as the way to examine the question and he argues that what blackness is in relation to abjection is another form of power; this time counter-intuitive. This power resides at the place where ego, identity, race, nation and body meet and come together. Power becomes paradoxical and unexpected. This power becomes one of the resources for the politics of the present and is found at where the violation occurs.
The book is theoretical as it deals with the field of black gat studies and it tells us that we must work through the existing issues. This is a new way of looking at and understanding both the culture and the history of black power and violence.

Note: the word "black" is not capitalized as the author himself did not do so.
... Read more

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White Supremacy in Children's Literature is a compelling and penetrating study of the white supremacy myth in books for the young. Donnarae MacCann explores the intersection of child and adult culture and reveals how the political, literary and social contexts of many children's stories have paralleled the way adult books, schools, churches and government maligned black identity, culture and intelligence. The volume examines how links between the socialization of children and conservative trends in the 19th century foretold 20th century disregard for social justice in American social policy. MacCann further demonstrates that cultural pluralism, an ongoing corrective to white supremacist fabrications, is informed by the insights and historical assessments offered in this essential study. ... Read more

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Jean Toomer's Cane was advertised as "a book about Negroes by a Negro," despite his request not to promote the book along such racial lines. Nella Larsen switched the title of her second novel from Nig to Passing, because an editor felt the original title "might be too inflammatory." In order to publish his first novel as a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection Richard Wright deleted a scene in Native Son depicting Bigger Thomas masturbating. Toni Morrison changed the last word of Beloved at her editor's request and switched the title of Paradise from War to allay her publisher's marketing concerns.

Although many editors place demands on their authors, these examples invite special scholarly attention given the power imbalance between white editors and publishers and African American authors. Black Writers, White Publishers: Marketplace Politics in Twentieth-Century African American Literature examines the complex negotiations behind the production of African American literature.

In chapters on Larsen's Passing, Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, Gwendolyn Brooks's Children Coming Home, Morrison's "Oprah's Book Club" selections, and Ralph Ellison's Juneteenth, John K. Young presents the first book-length application of editorial theory to African American literature. Focusing on the manuscripts, drafts, book covers, colophons, and advertisements that trace book production, Young expands upon the concept of socialized authorship and demonstrates how the study of publishing history and practice and African American literary criticism enrich each other. ... Read more

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In the first comprehensive study of African American war literature, Jennifer James analyzes fiction, poetry, autobiography, and histories about the major wars waged before the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948. Examining literature about the Civil War, the Spanish-American Wars, World War I, and World War II, James introduces a range of rare and understudied texts by writers such as Victor Daly, F. Grant Gilmore, William Gardner Smith, and Susie King Taylor. She argues that works by these as well as canonical writers such as William Wells Brown, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Gwendolyn Brooks mark a distinctive contribution to African American letters. ... Read more

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This book engages cosmopolitanism—a critical mode which moves beyond cultural pluralism by simultaneously privileging difference and commonality—in order to examine its particular deployment in the work of several African American writers. Deeply influenced and inspired by W. E. B. Du Bois, the writers closely examined in this study—Jean Toomer, Jessie Fauset, Langston Hughes and Albert Murray—have advanced cosmopolitanism to meet its own theoretical principals in the contested arena of racial discourse while remaining integral figures in a larger tradition of cosmopolitan thought. Rather than become mired in fixed categorical distinctions, their cosmopolitan perspective values the pluralist belief in the distinctiveness of different cultural groups while allowing for the possibility of inter-ethnic subjectivities, intercultural affiliations and change in any given mode of identification. This study advances cosmopolitanism as a useful model for like-minded critics and intellectuals today who struggle with contemporary debates regarding multiculturalism and universalism in a rapidly, yet unevenly, globalizing world.

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent guide for educators,parents& librarians.
Before reading this book the benign racist occlusions present in childhood favorites was just not a concern.Afterward, it was apparent that the opinions expressed in supposed innocent children's books lead towards prejudicial attitudes in the traditions these books perpetuate. ie.Babar,the elephant(colonialism; Afican elephant civilized in the custodial care of the French caregiver in the wake of the murder of his mother by the "hunter" in which he in turn civilizes his jungle kingdom and has a rival that is bestial and favors Egyptian (read;Arab,Coptic)culture. This book identifies prevaling opinions and attitudes about Afro/African Culture through the eyes of traditional opinions of non-Blacks which lead to a disrespect of contributions made by non-Whites unintentionally by well meaning people of all groups. ... Read more

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Combining scholarship covering one hundred fifty years of novel writing in the U.S., newly commissioned essays examine eighty African American novels.They include well-known works as well as writings recently recovered or acknowledged. The collection features essays on the slave narrative, coming of age, vernacular modernism, and the post-colonial novel to help readers gain a better appreciation of the African American novel's diversity and complexity. ... Read more

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The first major twenty-first century history of four hundred years of black writing, The Cambridge History of African American Literature presents a comprehensive overview of the literary traditions, oral and print, of African-descended peoples in the United States. Expert contributors, drawn from the United States and beyond, emphasize the dual nature of each text discussed as a work of art created by an individual and as a response to unfolding events in American cultural, political, and social history. Unprecedented in scope, sophistication and accessibility, the volume draws together current scholarship in the field. It also looks ahead to suggest new approaches, new areas of study, and as yet undervalued writers and works. The Cambridge History of African American Literature is a major achievement both as a work of reference and as a compelling narrative and will remain essential reading for scholars and students in years to come. ... Read more

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VOICES
BOUHT THIS PUBLICATION IN 1970 - LOVED IT - LOSTED IT - MY DAUGHTER NEEDED TO READ IT JUST BECAUSE - SHE'S WORKING ON HER MASTER'S AND NONE OF THE PROFESSORS MENTION THIS BOOK - I AM SO HAPPY TO BE ABLE TO PURCHASE IT FOR MY LIBRARY ONE AGAIN. THIS IS A MUST HAVE FOR ANY LIBARY.OLD AND USED AND IN EXCELLENT SHAPE.

incredible and moving selection...
I first read this book--absorbed it, rather--in college and have recommended it ever since.You'd be lucky to find any poetry collection this fine, and the voices in it so poignant.

Required Reading, well worth the time, effort and money
I read this as part of my undergrad education, and I must say I learned a lot and I cried a lot.The writings that the editor selected were superb.He did and excellent job of selected manuscripts that speak to the problemsfacing us today that are rooted in the past.I loved this book and I endedup keeping it as a part of my personal library.This should be requiredreading in every English class in America.Perhaps if we required moreprovocative writings in our classes, from more diverse populations ofpeople we would not have the problems of racial and ethnic strife that wehave in this country, on the verge of the 21st millenium.Great Writingand I highly reccommend it!!!! ... Read more

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Brown Gold is a compelling history and analysis of African-American children's picture books from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.At the turn of the nineteenth century, good children's books about black life were hard to find-if, indeed, young black readers and their parents could even gain entry into the bookstores and libraries at the time. But today, in the "Golden Age" of African-American children's picture books, one can find a wealth of titles ranging from Happy to be Nappy to Black is Brown is Tan.
In this book, Michelle Martin explores how the genre has evolved from problematic early works such as Epaminondas that were rooted in minstrelsy and stereotype, through the civil rights movement, and onward to contemporary celebrations of blackness.She demonstrates the cultural importance of contemporary favorites through keen historical analysis-scrutinizing the longevity and proliferation of the Coontown series and Ten Little Niggers books, for example-that makes clear how few picture books existed in which black children could see themselves and their people positively represented even up until the 1960s. She also explores in depth how children's authors and illustrators have addressed major issues in black life and history including racism, the civil rights movement, black feminism, major historical figures, religion, and slavery.
Brown Gold adds new depth to the reader's understanding of African-American literature and culture, and illuminates how the round, dynamic characters in these children's novels, novellas, and picture books can put a face on the past-a face with which many contemporary readers can identify. ... Read more

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An exploration of the literature, history, and culture of people of mixed African American and Native American descent, When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote is the first book to theorize an African-Native American literary tradition. In examining this overlooked tradition, the book prompts a reconsideration of interracial relations in American history and literature. Jonathan Brennan, in a sweeping historical and analytical introduction to this collection of essays, surveys several centuries of literature in the context of the historical and cultural exchange and development of distinct African-Native American traditions. Positing a new African-Native American literary theory, he illuminates the roles subjectivity, situational identities, and strategic discourse play in defining African-Native American literatures. Brennan provides a thorough background to the literary tradition and a valuable overview to topics discussed in the essays. He examines African-Native American political and historical texts, travel narratives, and the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, suggesting that this evolving oral tradition parallels the development of numerous Black Indian literary traditions in the United States and Latin America.

The diverse essays cover a range of literatures from African-Native American mythology among the Seminoles and mixed folktales among the Cherokee to autobiography, fiction, poetry, and captivity narratives. Contributors discuss, among other topics, the Brer Rabbit tales, shifting identities in African-Native American communities, the "creolization" of African American and Native American mythologies and religions, and Mardi Gras Indian performance. Also considered are Alice Walker's development of an African-Native American identity in her fiction and essays and African-Native American subjectivity in the works of Toni Morrison and Sherman Alexie. ... Read more

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Oral and Written Expressions of African Cultures challenges the traditional view of exotic and atavistic Africa with a balanced examination of the continent's realities and challenges. It shows how oral and written expressions capture the complexity, concerns, dynamism, challenges and ingenuity of African masses. It brings together twelve scholars from different academic backgrounds who draw from the rich repertoire of music, poetry, literature and the media in the continent to unearth the underlying socio-cultural, economic and political factors that shape African societies in the twenty first century. These scholars discuss issues ranging from political manipulations of popular music in Kenya and Argentina, the role of print media in the democratization process in Nigeria, motivations of "vulgar poetry" in South Africa, contemporary gender issues in the Islamic Republic of Sudan, the perseverance of aspects of African cultures in Puerto Rico, misrepresentations of Africa in Rene Maran's Batouala, the function of "lowbrow fiction" in Apartheid South Africa, female African authors' techniques to counter male dominance, to HIV/AID and the cultural taboos associated with the disease in southern Africa, among others. ... Read more

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Here is an innovative exploration of the blues aesthetic that reflects the literary work created by Black authors and illustrators for the Black child reader. This book examines literature written for Black children, using critical and creative writings—by artists, scholars, and critics—that define the blues within Black "adult" literature, poetry, and the visual arts. The book identifies Black children’s literature published in the past forty years by authors and illustrators who can be classified as blues artists, and whose work reflects social, political, economical, and historical developments of the Black experience throughout the United States. Referencing work created by Jacqueline Woodson, Walter Dean Myers, John Steptoe, Tom Feelings, Sherley Anne Williams, and others, this book demonstrates how the blues aesthetic now includes the literature dedicated to Black children. ... Read more

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Nancy Tolsen rocks
Nancy has written a wonderful book. She should be read by every teacher, parent and student interested in literature, and by every person who needs to understand Black children's literature better. I love her writing style, it's accessible to all readers not just scholars. ... Read more

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One of the best known and most widely read of early African American writers, Charles W. Chesnutt published more than fifty short stories, six novels, two plays, a biography of Frederick Douglass, and countless essays, poems, letters, journals, and speeches. Though he had light skin and was of mixed race, Chesnutt self-identified as a black man, and his writing was often boldly political, openly addressing problems of racial identity and injustice in the late 19th century. This collection of critical essays reevaluates the Chesnutt legacy, introducing new scholarship reflective of the many facets of his fiction, especially his sophisticated narrative strategies. ... Read more

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Spanning a wide geographical range, this collection features many of the now prominent first generation of African writers and draws attention to a new generation of writers. Powerful, intriguing and essentially non-Western, these stories will be welcome by an audience truly ready for multicultural voices.
Amazon.com Review
African writers have long faced difficulties unimaginable in the West. Themost obvious obstacle is the high rate of illiteracy in many Africannations. Then there is the low standard of living that renders books aluxury, even among those who can read them. Finally, there is thewidespread political oppression that has disfigured the continent fromnorth to south and east to west. Despite these problems, African literaturehas flowered over the past half-century as Under African Skies amplyproves. In this fine collection of fiction, interested readers can samplesub-Saharan Africa's finest writers. Some names may be unfamiliar tonon-African readers; others will be familiar: Ben Okri, whose novel,The FamishedRoad won the 1991 Booker Prize; ChinuaAchebe, whose 1958 novel Things Fall Apart became one ofthe most widely read novels by an African author; KenSaro-Wiwa, whose execution in Nigeria in 1995 sent shock waves around theworld. The collection includes anglophone, francophone, and Arabic writersand spans the continent from Senegal to South Africa.Stories range insubject matter from the supernatural (Amos Tutuola's "The CompleteGentleman") to the social and political (Es'kia Mphahlele's "Mrs. Plum),and each selection is preceded by a short biography of the author and abrief discussion of the themes and political and social context for eachstory. --Margaret Prior ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Worthwhile Anthology
This book was published in 1997 and contains 26 works by as many writers, from 16 countries. South Africa and Nigeria are best represented, with 4-5 stories each. Other countries, with 1-2 stories each, include those from the west (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana), the east and center (Cameroon, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia) and the south (Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho). Ethiopia, Congo (Dem. Rep.), Tanzania and Uganda are the most populous countries whose writers weren't included.

The stories in the book range from the late 1940s to the 1990s, with most published in the 1960s and 90s. The great majority of the pieces were written in English in the original, a few were translated from French and one each from Portuguese and Arabic. The editor's intention seems to have been to introduce readers to both well-known, older writers and stories as well as to newer ones.

Earlier writers included Birago Diop, Es'kia Mphahlele, Amos Tutuola, Sembene Ousmane, Camara Laye, Tayeb Salih, Chinua Achebe, Grace Ogot and Rene Philombe. Younger ones included Tijan Sallah, Ben Okri, Véronique Tadjo, Yvonne Vera and Mzamane Nhlapo. The book didn't contain short stories by writers such as Ekwensi, Gordimer, Nwapa, Djebar, Breytenbach, Dongala, Iyayi, Mungoshi, Ndebele, Wicomb, Vassanji, or Marechera, or excerpts by novelists such as Emecheta or Coetzee.

The stories in the collection mainly cover daily life, family relations, social customs, and people's behavior in crises such as illness, the search for work, the death of a loved one, government or social oppression, corruption and war. Most of the works were straightforward and realistic. Many, such as Es'kia Mphahlele's "Mrs. Plum," Rene Philombe's "The True Martyr Is Me," Don Mattera's "Afrika Road," Tijan Sallah's "Innocent Terror," Steve Chimombo's "Taken," Similih Cordor's "In the Hospital," and Sindiwe Magona's "I'm Not Talking about That Now," contained an element of social criticism; in most cases well done, in a few cases, in my opinion, stylistically uninteresting and strident. A few others, such as those by Tutuola, Camara, Diop and the more contemporary Véronique Tadjo, used dreamlike narratives similar to magic realism. The anthology didn't contain any politically satiric works, except maybe Achebe's "Girls at War," in which a government member keeps running into a patriotic girl during a time of civil war, and sees the girl's circumstances worsen drastically while his own improve. Emmanuel Dongala does this type of writing well, and a story of his could've been included.

Of the newer pieces in the anthology, the ones I enjoyed most were an excerpt from Tadjo's novel As the Crow Flies, which used images in a surreal, striking way ("She parted from him, laid her hands on his forehead, and opened his skull. What she saw inside frightened her. It was a desert of sadness and solitude. It looked like a battlefield . . . . in the distance, she spotted a lake and, beyond that, a plain on which the grass seemed green and smiling. The earth there was rich . . . . From that time on, she spent her days devising a means of reaching the valley . . . ."). Mzamane Nhlapo's "Give Me a Chance," about a mother who goes against the customs of her society, which expects women to ask for permission from their elders or husband when they seek work, to feed herself and her children. And Steve Chimombo's "Taken," in which the narrator tries to find out why his writer friend was arrested by his oppressive government, while dealing with the people around him who expect his turn is next. Another piece, "A Gathering of Bald Men," by Mandla Langa, was a humorous story about a happily married black salaryman whose life begins to come apart after he starts losing his hair. It had some interest for showing scenes from life in post-apartheid South Africa and being a rather light, comic tale; too light, maybe.

Of the older works, I enjoyed Grace Ogot's "Tekayo," written in the style of an oral tale, about an older man who violates dietary and other customs and brings disaster on himself and his family. And Sembene Ousmane's "Black Girl," about the cultural dislocation and prejudice experienced by a Senegalese maid who's taken by her French employer to work in France.

This anthology, edited by Charles Larson, is one of the more recent collections in English of writers from Africa, together with Nadezhda Obradovic's Anchor Book of Modern African Stories, published in 2002. Readers who enjoyed Larson's anthology might also enjoy Obradovic's. The collections differ in that Larson's devotes more space to older writers and earlier decades, and comparatively less space to newer ones.

Larson has compiled at least two previous anthologies devoted wholly to Africa: African Short Stories, published in the United States in 1970, and Opaque Shadows and Other Stories from Contemporary Africa, published in 1975. Under African Skies incorporates about a third of the stories from the earlier collections.

The bitter fruits of imperialism
There's a nagging irony in reading these stories.Africa, the home of our species, must now lament the return of her descendants as conquerors and oppressors.Larson, who has compiled other collections of African writing, presents us with a litany of more than two dozen expressions of frustration and helplessness.That's not to say these tales are merely depressing reading.The authors are too human and witty in their expressive narratives to be so limited.Larson has assembled the works of writers equal in their talents with authors from any culture.Grace Ogrot, Ben Okri, Bessie Head and Ken Saro-Wiwa, may all be placed in balance with those in the "Western" ranks.

The powerful stories by these articulate writers, however, don't offer much in the way of humour.Living in Africa today is no laughing matter.Before the collapse of apartheid and the turning out of colonial powers, it was even worse.Most of these stories represent those times and conditions.Of them all, Ken Saro-Wiwa's "Africa Kills Her Sun" may be the most poignant and compelling.The title imparts much at the outset.It's the story of a robber facing execution and certainly seizes the reader.That's particularly true when you recall the author would be facing his own martyrdom only a few years later.It's also symptomatic of the tone of the collection with its depiction of government corruption and arbitrary use of power.

On the other hand, if you are interested in the African woman's view of life, which of these should you place first in your reading queue?Yvonne Vera's "Why Don't You Carve Other Animals"?Nurrudin Farah's "My Father, the Englishman and I"?Or Mzamane Nhlapo's "Give me a Chance"?Each will lead you to a facet of women's lives in Africa.There's an added fillip when you realise two of those writers are men.Women writers have much to say, but have struggled "manfully"[?] to gain a place in the pantheon of African authors.Besides Vera, there's Ama Ata Aidoo, Veronique Tadjo, and Sindiwe Magona.Their contributions to this gathering bring a fresh and evocative voice to African writing.

It's indicative of the African scene that several of these writers were living in exile at the time these stories were first published.Another aspect of this collection is the number of "non-English-writing" authors have a strong representation.In the "West" it's too easy to overlook the plethora of languages permeating Africa - with French and Portuguese translations appearing here.The clash of cultures includes religion, as well.Islam is a major force in Africa and it and Christianity remain in subdued conflict with traditional gods.From these are derived food taboos, family relations and medicinal practices.Only lately have we outside our home continent become aware of the benefits of them.We overlook how many people rely on these social factors for survival - and who are forced to abandon them under external pressures.What happens when a family comes under the domination of a fanatical Christian convert?Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Kenyan story "A Meeting In the Dark" offers some valuable insight into what the West has imposed there.

If forced to choose a "favourite" among these tales, it would likely be Es'kia Mphalele's "Mrs Plum".Told from the view of Mrs Plum's servant girl, Karabo - also known as "Jane" - it deals with the complex interactions between black Africans and whites living in but loathing the culture apartheid created.There are three "big things" in Mrs Plum's life.Karabo isn't one of them, but she will be.As the longest story in the collection, Mphalele's tale is able to delve more deeply into the issues through his character.He also uses Karabo to explain many elements in the daily lives of South Africans.Apartheid may be gone, but it's hard to believe Karabo's life is any more fulfilled than it was when this was written.[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Ontario]

Diversity and Commonality
The talent of story telling is widespread in Africa. Oral history is part of the makeup of the multitude of societies that have evolved in Africa over millennia.Through colonial times the traditions of story telling has continued, preserving the rich culture and history of the communities.Published works of African writers were small in numbers in comparison to other continents and literary training the privilege of very few.With the wave of African countries' independence, the situation of African fiction authors did not improve much. Obstacles were numerous, from political difficulties to lack of a paying audience in the African market.Larson contends that the "most extraordinary aspect of African literature [during the last fifty years] is its resilience."His introduction to this collection of African short fiction of the last few decades summarizes the challenges and the triumphs of many African writers. He describes his difficulty of selection among the many and varied writers from across the continent.

Twenty six writers from seventeen countries are introduced, including internationally well-known authors like Chinua Achebe, Sembene Ousmane and Ken Saro-Wiwa. Others, locally recognized, in their country of origin or, too often, of exile, deserve a much wider larger audience.The stories, roughly arranged chronologically, range from the very personal vignette to the magical realism of a place or person. Early works might address the domestic-master relationship, such as Es'kia Mphahlele's delightful "Mrs. Plum" or the moving story of "The Black Girl" by Ousmane. Landscapes can be important backdrops or become essential elements that lure the innocent into their realm. "The Complete Gentleman" changes into everything but that once he enters the forest.Conflict and devastation are touched upon as they haunt the living such as in Ben Okri's story "A Prayer from the Living". While the styles vary from one author to the next, we also find commonalities and parallels in the events described: personal tragedies, war, heroism and defeat.Taken together, the book builds a tapestry of African realities with the dreams and the magic woven in. It reads like one complex literary work with many individual and diverse chapters.

Each author is briefly introduced by Larson and their writing placed into context of their life and literary career.Thereby the author instilled some curiosity in the reader to read more of one or the other writer. The book, published in 1997/8, maintains its importance today as an excellent overview of African literary talent. Don't stop there, however. There is a rich field out there to explore. [Friederike Knabe]

Great Work
I have always been wary of collections of stories written by multiple authors - I am afraid that they will be lacking in content as the editor attempts to create some sort of image of the type of author he/she is collecting.This is emphatically not the case here.
While I was initially struck by the alien nature of the cultures from which these stories come - I am a Brooklynite through and through - this did not stop me from devouring UNDER AFRICAN SKIES: MODERN AFRICAN STORIES.(Here I feel I should note that I read this book as part of a discussion based seminar this past year I spent at Trinity College.My classmates provided me with great insight, but most of the joy I found in reading this work stemmed from the superb quality and provocative nature of these stories.)Although it would be an over statement to say that every single story in this collection is great, some - including Alexander Kanehgoni's EFFORTLESS TEARS - are among the best short stories I have ever encountered.I say "encountered" and not "read" because you do not simply read many of these stories, you experience them both intellectually and emotionally.Buy this book, let it speak to you - do not be discouraged by cultural barriers - you will not be disappointed.
In a final note, I would like to concur with the "A reader from New York City" that this book should not be read in a single sitting.Each story should be read more than once: there are layers of meaning that simply cannot be grasped without careful reading and re-reading.This is not to say that the work cannot be enjoyed without careful study, but that it becomes more enjoyable the more time you devote to it.

A superb introduction to 20th century African literature.
Mr. Larsen's has skillfully selected a range of stories that covers the breadth of the continent, and of its voices. Each story--all are brief, all are powerful in their way--is preceded by an introduction to the writer andcontext of the work. The book is not long, but cannot be read at a sitting,not unless you're made of iron. These are unblinking stories of colonialand postcolonial Africa. Buy it for Birago Diop's story alone, or KenSaro-Wiwa's. ... Read more