Henry Louis Gates Jr. (ed), Black Literature and Literary Theory" (Book Note)

 

The primary purpose of literary criticism is to shed light on works of art, and the literature of the African diaspora has garnered attention from a diverse array of literary critics representing various critical perspectives. Critical theories spanning Formalism, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, and Structuralism have all contributed to the examination of these literatures. A significant contemporary challenge facing critics of Black literature is the formulation of a critical theory rooted in black culture. Influential artists like Chinua Achebe, Mongo Beti, Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, and George Lamming have been profoundly shaped by their cultural backgrounds. Consequently, valid interpretations of their works must be sensitive to the cultural milieu from which they emerged.

 

In the introductory essay to "Black Literature & Literary Theory" titled "Criticism in the Jungle," Gates defines "black" as encompassing African, Caribbean, and Afro-American literature. He raises the implicit question of how applicable contemporary literary theory is to the reading of African, Caribbean, and Afro-American literary traditions. The response to this question unfolds in a series of essays by scholar-critics who demonstrate a nuanced understanding of contemporary theories and Afrocentric aesthetic postulations. The collection also, to some extent, addresses the call made during the Black Arts Movement of the 60s for the conceptualization of a critical theory divorced from Western theories.

 

The initial essay by Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka delves into the language of the social critic, critically engaging with Roland Barthes' definitions of langue and parole. Soyinka expresses discontent with critics, such as Gerald Moore and Bernth Lindfors, who have misinterpreted his works. However, the essay leaves the reader without a clear view of the applicability of Barthes' theory to "black letters." In contrast, James Snead's "Repetition as a Figure of Black Culture" emerges as one of the most enlightening contributions in the collection. This essay lends credibility to the advocacy for a theory of interpretation rooted in culture. Snead challenges Hegel's assertion that "black culture simply did not exist in the same sense as European culture did" and discusses the relevance of "repetition" in black culture, emphasizing its pivotal role. Using examples from artists like James Brown and John Coltrane, Snead illustrates how this motif from African music influences contemporary artists such as Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, and Leon Forrest in their literary works.

Structuralism has encountered resistance among critics of Black Literature, with the pioneering work of Sunday Anozie, as seen in "Structural Models & African Poetics" (1982) and his essay in "Black Literature and Literary Theory" (pp. 105-125), failing to sway critics toward embracing structuralist poetics. Anthony Appiah's strong rebuttal to Anozie's application of structuralism to African works (pp. 127-150) further elucidates the fundamental suspicions held by critics of Black literature regarding the "applicability" and relevance of this theory within the literary canon. The reluctance to adopt structuralist theories in African and Afro-American criticism stems from the theory itself, which views a work of art as an autonomous system of structures requiring "decodification." Some critics find structuralism to be an escapist approach that lacks social and political commitment.

 

While structuralism has faced skepticism in the realm of Black literature, certain aspects of it, such as intertextuality and studies on myth and folktale by Levi-Strauss and Vladimir Propp, may offer useful insights. Propp's method of breaking down folktales into component parts and analyzing their relation to the whole, as demonstrated in Jay Edwards' essay on the "Structural Analysis of the Afro-American trickster tale" (pp. 80-103), reflects a potential avenue for exploration.

 

The second part of "Black Literature and Literary Theory," titled "Practice," features insightful essays on African-American literature by Bowen, Johnson, Baker, Washington, Wills, Stepto, and Gates. These essays interpret works from the literary canon through various perspectives. Barbara Johnson and Mary Helen Washington, for instance, emphasize the seminal role of the "feminist voice" that has been overlooked by scholars and critics. Their analyses of Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and Gwendolyn Brooks' "Maud Martha" underscore the pivotal contributions of these texts to African-American literature. Recent critical studies, such as Mari Evans' "Black Women Writers (1950-1980)," are expected to expand the scope of literary theories applied to Black literature, especially the works of women writers.

The essay that stands out as particularly provocative in "Black Literature and Literary Theory" is authored by Henry Louis Gates Jr., titled "The blackness of blackness: a critique of the sign and the signifying monkey" (pp. 285-321). Carolyn Fowler, in her intriguing introduction to "Black Arts and Black Aesthetics," contends that works in Black literature require new value judgments that acknowledge the cultural artifacts shaping the artistic sensibilities of the writers. In 1973, Stephen Henderson, in his significant essay "The Forms of Things Unknown" (See "Understanding the New Black Poetry," pp. 3-69), formulated a critical theory for reading Black poetry. Gates' essay in the same volume is a pioneering work in a similar direction, proposing a theory of interpretation from "within the black cultural matrix."

 

Gates explores the role of the Signifying Monkey in black culture, identifying it as a trickster figure akin to those in Yoruba mythology, such as Esu-Elegbara in Nigeria and Legba among the Fon of Dahomey. He further explains the Signifying Monkey as the "signifier" wreaking havoc upon the "signified." Gates elucidates Afro-American narrative parody and applies it to the analysis of Ishmael Reed's "Mumbo Jumbo," considering it a "signifying pastiche of the Afro-American narrative tradition." Drawing from diverse sources in black culture, Gates establishes a solid theoretical framework and analyzes the works of major Afro-American writers. He contends that Ellison, for example, is a "Great Signifier" naming things indirectly throughout his works. Ellison engages in parodying Richard Wright's literary structures through repetition and difference.

 

In a detailed analysis of Ishmael Reed's "Mumbo Jumbo," which parodies the Harlem Renaissance, Gates suggests that the work is both about texts and composed of sub-texts, pre-texts, post-texts, and narratives within narratives. Gates' insightful analyses are informed by sociological, linguistic, and historical data from black culture. While "Black Literature and Literary Theory" is a pioneering and provocative text for students of Black literature and contemporary theories, it is noted for a major weakness— the absence of an essay on Afro-Caribbean literature, especially considering Gates' definition of "black" as a metaphor for the African diaspora. Nonetheless, the collection supports the notion that contemporary theories can indeed illuminate works in Black literature, with the most rewarding theories rooted in Black culture.