Overview

James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) exemplified the ideal of the American public intellectual as a writer, educator, songwriter, diplomat, key figure of the Harlem Renaissance, and first African American executive of the NAACP. Originally published anonymously in 1912, Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man is considered one of the foundational works of twentieth-century African American literature, and its themes and forms have been taken up by other writers, from Ralph Ellison to Teju Cole. Johnson’s novel provocatively engages with political and cultural strains still prevalent in American discourse today, and it remains in print over a century after its initial publication. New Perspectives contains fresh essays that analyze the book’s reverberations, the contexts within which it was created and received, the aesthetic and intellectual developments of its author, and its continuing influence on American literature and global culture. Contributors: Bruce Barnhart, Lori Brooks, Ben Glaser, Jeff Karem, Daphne Lamothe, Noelle Morrissette, Michael Nowlin, Lawrence J. Oliver, Diana Paulin, Amritjit Singh, Robert B. Stepto

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9780820356839

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Reviews

Given the political shift that has since taken place, with all its quotidian and spectacular terrors, a volume that posits readings of The Autobiography focused not on whether Johnson's hopes for a remade society can ever come to pass but, rather, on the novel's essential dualism, which keeps open the possibility of national and global transformation, is especially welcome. In its critical variety and acuity, New Approaches to James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man assists readers-already living in the volume's future-in holding fast to the racial futurity at the heart of Johnson's literary and political project. - ALH Online Review, XIX.1

Author Information

NOELLE MORRISSETTE is an associate professor of English and program director of African American and African Diaspora Studies at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is author of James Weldon Johnson’s Modern Soundscapes and the editor of New Perspectives on James Weldon Johnson’s “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” (Georgia). She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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