From Folklore to Fiction: A Study of Folk Heroes and Rituals in the Black American Novel

(Hardback)

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For Thomas,`folklore' is an all-encompassing term that incorporates the sum total of the rituals, practices, and behavior of the black community. . . . Although some readers will quarrel with the elasticity of Thomas's theoretical framework, this study nevertheless offers a useful overview of the various ways in which Afro-American writers have drawn upon a common cultural heritage. Choice This study focuses on the transposition of Afro-American folk heroes and rituals from folklore to literature. Thomas shows how black American novelists perceive the heroes and rituals of their community, and the challenge these writers face in making oral forms serve the needs of their writing. The evolution of folklore in black fiction is clearly demonstrated. Works of writers from Charles Chesnutt and Paul Dunbar to recent ones such as Paule Marshall and Toni Morrison are analyzed to reveal both the writers' ability to convert folklore into fiction and to dramatize the ontological value of the lore to Afro-American society. From Folklore to Fiction joins in the ever enlarging dialectic for studying and understanding the black American reality. The introduction to this book presents a review of scholarship on Afro-American folklore and fiction. The origins and functions of Afro-American folk forms are covered next. Major folk heroes are introduced, including the John Henry and black Moses, defiant heroes, and the trickster. The techniques and reasons for incorporating Afro-American rituals are the folk sermon, singing of spirituals, and ecstasy of the black church, the blues, the dozens, and jive.

Reviews

The most recent addition to a growing body of scholarship exploring the connections between Afro-American folklore and Afro-American literature, this book surveys the transposition of Afro-American folk heroes and rituals at the hands of Afro-American writers from the turn of the 20th century to the present. For Thomas, folklore' is an all-encompassing term that incorporates the sum total of the rituals, practices, and behavior of the black community. Within this framework, Thomas explores the fictional use of popular figures from Afro-American folklore-the preacher, the bad nigger, the trickster-as well as specific Afro-American rituals in works ranging from the turn-of-the-century fiction of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles Chesnutt to contemporary writers like Leon Forrest and Toni Morrison. Although some readers will quarrel with the elasticity of Thomas's theoretical framework, this study nevertheless offers a useful overview of the various ways in which Afro-American writers have drawn upon a common cultural heritage. In this respect, it is a fruitful complement to Keith Byerman's Fingering the Jagged Grain: Tradition and Form in Recent Black Fiction. Useful for students at and beyond community college level.-Choice
"The most recent addition to a growing body of scholarship exploring the connections between Afro-American folklore and Afro-American literature, this book surveys the transposition of Afro-American folk heroes and rituals at the hands of Afro-American writers from the turn of the 20th century to the present. For Thomas, folklore' is an all-encompassing term that incorporates the sum total of the rituals, practices, and behavior of the black community. Within this framework, Thomas explores the fictional use of popular figures from Afro-American folklore-the preacher, the bad nigger, the trickster-as well as specific Afro-American rituals in works ranging from the turn-of-the-century fiction of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles Chesnutt to contemporary writers like Leon Forrest and Toni Morrison. Although some readers will quarrel with the elasticity of Thomas's theoretical framework, this study nevertheless offers a useful overview of the various ways in which Afro-American writers have drawn upon a common cultural heritage. In this respect, it is a fruitful complement to Keith Byerman's Fingering the Jagged Grain: Tradition and Form in Recent Black Fiction. Useful for students at and beyond community college level."-Choice

Author Bio

H. NIGEL THOMAS is an Assistant Professor of American Literature, and is an Associate Editor of Kola, a literary magazine. He is the author of a novel, Spirits in the Dark (1994), and a collection of short stories, How Loud Can the Village Cock Crow (1996).