African American Literature of the Twenty-First Century and the Black Arts

Stephen Casmier is associate professor in the department of English at Saint Louis University.

Preface: What Comes Before in Wideman Scholarship Acknowledgements Introduction: Wideman, Contemporary Writers, and the Black Arts Chapter I: Reuben and the Sorcerer Chapter II: Philadelphia Fire and the Art of Bundling the Inchoate Chapter III: The Cattle Killing and the Art of the Slavery Narrative Conjure Chapter IV: Two Cities and the Art of Breaking Writing's "Spell" Chapter V: Fanon and the Art of Spiritualizing Narrative Chapter VI: Writing to Save a Life and the Art of Hagiography as Possessed Text (Texto Montado) Conclusion: A "Very Igbo Understanding" Works Cited Appendix: Interview with John Edgar Wideman, June 2019: Keeping the Language of Fiction Alive

In the preface to this work Casmier provides a rich review of the scholarly/critical works about John Edgar Wideman (b. 1941). He asserts that critics find a paradox in the scholarship-"the aporia induced by a writer who imbeds autobiographical details in his works but also broadcasts 'telling stories' and 'lies' in deference to the Igbo proverb that he endlessly references" ("No story is not true," from Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Part). Ever present in Wideman's works is the figure of his brother, a convicted murderer, who not only complicates the works but also helps locate them in the Black Arts tradition. Casmier explores six of Wideman's novels, calling them the functional works of the discredited Black Arts Movement-works that demand a critical approach that responds to them as things in and of themselves. Like most critics, Casmier is interested in improving the accessibility of Wideman's works and increasing his audience. The book is as much about Wideman's craft as it is about the tradition out of which Wideman writes and the urgent messages he deftly embeds in his works. This book can be viewed as an attempt to rescue Wideman from European discourse. A 2019 interview with Wideman is a brilliant supplement to the work. Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. * Choice Reviews *