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Pacifica Network is pleased to offer The Literary Corner: Black Writers of the World, a special radio series for Black History Month.
This is a limited series, courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the series’ Producer and host, Professor Brooks Robinson.
This series was recorded in the late 1970’s as a collaboration between Black scholars at the University of Wisconsin. Literary scholars and writers provide critical analysis of Black world literature, including African and African American fiction/non-fiction, Essays, Poetry, and Drama.
The Literary Corner: Black Writers of the World, is offered in memory of Professor Sarah Webster Fabio (1928-1979), poet, educator, Black Arts Movement icon, and one of the Literary Corner’s analysts.
1. Introduction to the Literary Corner—Part I
- Guests: Professor Sarah Fabio, Professor Edris Makward and Professor Daniel Kunene all from University of Wisconsin in Madison
- A discussion about the origins of black world literature and characteristics that distinguish black world literature from European, or non-black literature. There is a discussion about carryover of oral literature from Africa, such as folklore, spiritual songs, blues, shouts, hollers and work songs that Africans could hold in their heads. Professor Fabio discusses individuals who have made contributions to African American literature, such as Charles Chesnutt, who she says popularized folklore in his short stories, Lucy Terry, Phillis Wheatley, Francis Harper of the abolitionist movement, Jupiter Hammond. She also mentions that Williams Wells authored the first black novel Clotel, in the mid-nineteenth century.
2. Introduction to the Literary Corner Part—II
- Guests: Professor Sarah Fabio, Professor Edris Makward and Professor Daniel Kunene all from University of Wisconsin in Madison
- A continuation of discussion about differences between African and African-American literature; the relationship between African American writers and European literature; similarities and differences between South Africans and African Americans; the “corruption” of the African “voice” in African American literature; subalterns’ ability to distort their “voice” in order to speak to their masters/oppressors. The episode concludes with a discussion on how to go about analyzing and defining black world literature.
3. Meet Sarah Fabio
- Guest: Professor Sarah Fabio, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Interview conducted by Professor Edris Makward, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Some topics discussed include Fabio’s use of poetry as a young child as a form of expression; poetry’s significance in preserving black culture; her other forms of communication: novels, short stories, essays, literary criticism and drama; Dr. Fabio’s poetry and spoken-word poetry albums. She also reads her poems: “My Own Thing,” “Sassafras Toned; My Grandma Sat,” and “For My People.”
4. Meet Daniel Kunene
- Guest: Professor Daniel Kunene University of Wisconsin, Madison
Interview conducted by Professor Edris Makward, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- A discussion about Dr. Kunene’s diffidence as an early writer; the role of grief in his writing, in particular his own father’s death; writing in different languages e.g. English and Sotho; as well as how the suffering of the South African people has impacted his work. Additionally, Dr. Kunene reads some of his poems, including “Voices” and “The Running is a Dance.”
5. Introduction to Afro-American Fiction/Prose Part I
- Guest: Professor Sarah Fabio, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Sarah Fabio takes an historical approach to recounting some of the prominent figures of African American fiction. Some of the topics discussed in this episode are William Wells Browns’ fiction, especially his novel Clotel, Or The President’s Daughter, which was published in London; Charles Chesnutt’s fiction (The Goophered Grapevine); Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s fiction and poetry (Sport of the Gods); fiction writers in the early 20th century and the challenges of African American fiction writing at that time; the impact of WWI on African American fiction; the impact of some early 20th-century writers/works such as Langston Hughes’ Not Without Laughter, Claude McKay’s Banjo and Jean Toomer. The conversation concludes with a discussion of Jean Toomer’s Cane and the experimental form that the book takes.
6. Introduction to Afro-American Fiction/Prose Part II
Guest: Professor Sarah Fabio, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Tracing African American fiction from the end of the Harlem Renaissance to the 1970s. Some topics discussed include: African-American fiction writers that emerged and/or published works between the end of the Harlem Renaissance and the 1950s, such as Richard Wright (Native Son, Black Boy and Uncle Tom’s Children), Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man), Charles Himes, Ann Petry, Frank Yerby as well as Willard Motley (Knock On Any Door); short story writers in the mid-20th century such as James Baldwin, William Melvin Kelley, John Killens, Mary “Ellen” Vroman, Julian Mayfield, Ernest Gaines, Christine Hanna and LeRoy Jones; Contemporary writers; works of the 1970s such as John Killens (And Then We Heard the Thunder and The Cotillion), Julian Mayfield (The Hit), Chester Himes (The Third Generation), John Weaver (Sissy!), John Williams (The Man Who Cried I Am), “Jimmy” Baldwin (Go Tell It On The Mountain); newly emerging writers such as Toni Morrison, Toni Cade Bambara, Alice Walker and Ismael Reed. Toward the end of the interview, a discussion about whether black writers will change their approach to writing given the persistence of racial issues.
7. Darwin Turner on Jean Toomer and Frank Yerby
- Guests: Dr. Darwin Turner
Participating Analysts: Professor Edris Makward and Professor Sarah Fabio, both from University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Dr. Darwin Turner discusses some activities he is involved with, including editing material written by Jean Toomer. Also discussed: Toomer’s view of race in America; whether Toomer eschewed his Black background after publishing Cane; as well as whether Toomer resisted being referred as a Black writer after publishing Cane. Professor Turner is asked about writer Frank Yerby – whether Yerby evaded racial identification in order to gain publication; a possible sequel to The Dahomean, that would be dedicated to Dr. Turner and his wife.
8. Joseph Skerret on Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison
- Guest: Professor Joseph Skerrett
Participating analyst: Professor Sarah Fabio, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Comparisons between Wright’s and Ellison’s views on the role of the writer; the extent to which books by Black writers are addressed to white audiences; Wright’s and Ellison’s political ideologies; comparisons between how Wright and Ellison use their work. Toward the end of the discussion, Professor Turner also discusses some of Richard Wright’s unpublished works that he encountered while doing research on the author.
9. Kenneth Chambers on John A. Williams
- Guest: Dr. Kenneth Chambers
Participating analyst: Professor Sarah Fabio, University of Wisconsin, Madison
- A discussion about John A. Williams’ novel The Man Who Cried I Am and works that it has been compared to; comparisons between Williams’ work and those of other Black writers; the reasons Williams and his work are not more well known; as well as the prevalence of interracial relationships in Williams’ works and the message he would like to convey regarding interracial relationships. Also, a discussion about problems some African American writers face in publishing their works, and the impact of the Black Arts movement on publishing.
10. Addison Gayle on Black Literary Criticism
- Guest: Addison Gayle
Participating analysts: Professor Sarah Fabio, Professor Edris Makward, both from University of Wisconsin, Madison
- A reading by Addison Gayle, reciting an excerpt from one of his works titled “A Blueprint for Black Criticism.” Topics discussed include: freedoms of creative writers; ideology Gayle would like to put into his work; views as a Black aesthetic or lack thereof; the most promising young Black writers of the day, such as Brenda Wilkinson and Sonia [Sanchez]; as well as whether it is legitimate for Black writers to increase the Black audience.
11. Introduction to African American Poetry with Eugene Redmond Part I
- Guest: Poet Eugene Redmond
- Poet Eugene Redmond begins by reciting a poem, then introduces some of the earliest African American poets, such as Phillis Wheatley, Jupiter Hammon, Briton Hammon, George Moses Horton, Gustavus Vassa (also known as Olaudah Equiano) and Frederick Douglas. Topics discussed include a brief overview of Phillis Wheatley’s life, and race consciousness (or lack thereof) in her work; how the first African enslaved people in the New World expressed their experiences or envisioned a new world in a new language; the development of folk literature and folk poetry; the development of written and oral protest poetry; writers in the 19th and 20th century, such as Albery Whitman, Paul Laurence Dunbar and James Weldon Johnson; the different schools of poetry, such as plantation and dialect; the use of unrealistic dialects by white writers. The discussion concludes with Eugene Redmond outlining the contributions and legacy of Paul Dunbar by listing institutions that have commemorated him through eponyms.
12. Literary Corner: Black Writers of the World – Introduction to African American Poetry with Eugene Redmond—Part II
- Guest: Poet Eugene Redmond
- A discussion of the Harlem Renaissance. Some of the themes and individuals discussed in the episode include the Harlem Renaissance; James Weldon Johnson’s contributions to African American poetry; black poets that emerged in the 1930s and 1940s, such as Frank Marshall Davis, Robert Hayton, M. Carl Holman, Gwendolyn Brooks and Melvin Tolson; Gwendolyn Brooks’ rise to prominence; black poets of the 1950s such as Lance Jeffers, Percy Johnston, Jay Wright, Henry Dumas, Clarence Major, Ted Joans, Bob Kaufman, and Russell Atkins; individuals of the early 1960s such as Larry Neal (Liberator magazine), John Henrik Clarke (Freedomways magazine) and several others; crucial figures of the Black Arts movement such as Ed Bullins, Leroy Jones (also known as Amiri Baraka) and Haki Madhubuti. The episode concludes with Eugene Redmond reading one of his poems, “I Can Never Unlove You.”