'bitter With The Past But Sweet With The Dream': Communism In The African American Imaginary: Historical Materialism, Volume 95
(Paperback)
Publishing Details
'bitter With The Past But Sweet With The Dream': Communism In The African American Imaginary: Historical Materialism, Volume 95
By (Author) Cathy Bergin
Haymarket Books
Haymarket Books
9th August 2016
26th July 2016
United States
Classifications
General
Non Fiction
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Far-left political ideologies and movements
Ethnic studies
813.509896073
Physical Properties
Paperback
222
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
Description
The legacy of the relationship between African American writers and Communism in the US is a contested one. In Bitter with the Past but Sweet with the Dream, Cathy Bergin argues that in three novels, by seminal mid-century authors (Richard Wright, Chester Himes and Ralph Ellison), Communism is not dismissed as incapable of meeting the demands of black political identity, but is castigated for its refusal to do so. Bergin draws on the complex formations black political agency presumed and reproduced by American Communism during the Depression.
Author Bio
Cathy Bergin (DPhil (2004) is a Senior Lecturer in the Humanities Programme at the University of Brighton.
