Rewriting

Polytropic Identities

in the Postmodern African American Novel

Chapter I

Cultural and Theoretical Contexts:

Rewriting, Revision, and Black Postmodernism

The revival of ethnic consciousness as a major expression of the new pluralism and the deep tension created by the divergent process of acculturation (the assimilation of values of a common civil culture) and ethnification (the assertion of difference as a form of empowerment) are reflected in the rise of a rich and varied literature of ethnicity which has infused vigor and freshness into the American literature (Mihăilă 1994, 157).

We must redefine ‘theory’ itself from within our own black cultures, refusing to grant the racist premise that theory is something that white people do, so that we are doomed to imitate our white colleagues, like reverse minstrel critics done up in whiteface. We are all heirs to critical theory, but we black critics are heirs as well to the black vernacular tradition (Gates 1989, 280).

Changing the Academic Focus: “Radical Postmodernism”

A Constructive Critique: “Double-Coded Texts”

The Black Arts Movement: “Reordering the Western Aesthetic”

The Black Feminist Movement: “Refusing Encompassing Definitions”

African American Revisionist Theories: “No More Separate Spheres”