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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780802043764
ISBN: 0802043763
Label: University of Toronto Press
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 376
Publication Date: 2002-10-05
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Studio: University of Toronto Press

Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature is a pioneering study of African-Canadian literary creativity, laying the groundwork for future scholarly work in the field. Based on extensive excavations of archives and texts, this challenging passage through twelve essays presents a history of the literature and examines its debt to, and synthesis with, oral cultures. George Elliott Clarke identifies African-Canadian literature's distinguishing characteristics, argues for its relevance to both African Diasporic Black and Canadian Studies, and critiques several of its key creators and texts.

Scholarly and sophisticated, the survey cites and interprets the works of several major African-Canadian writers, including AndrT Alexis, Dionne Brand, Austin Clarke, Claire Harris, and M. Nourbese Philip. In so doing, Clarke demonstrates that African-Canadian writers and critics explore the tensions that exist between notions of universalism and black nationalism, liberalism and conservatism. These tensions are revealed in the literature in what Clarke argues to be - paradoxically - uniquely Canadian and proudly apart from a mainstream national identity.

Clarke has unearthed vital but previously unconsidered authors, and charted the relationship between African-Canadian literature and that of Africa, African America, and the Caribbean. In addition to the essays, Clarke has assembled a seminal and expansive bibliography of texts - literature and criticism - from both English and French Canada. This important resource will inevitably challenge and change future academic consideration of African-Canadian literature and its place in the international literary map of the African Diaspora.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Lays an important foundation
Review: The term "African American" doesn't usually invoke images north of the 49th parallel, but it should. Not only because Canada was the longed for "Canaan Land" of so many spirituals and therefore, the ultimate home of many escaped slaves, nor because Nova Scotia and New France also had slaves, but because black communities have been a part of what we now call "Canada" since the beginning. George Elliott Clarke , an award winning poet, playwright, critic and scholar , is very much part of the literary map of Canada; this book gathers together a representative selection of his essays and reviews published over a decade and demonstrates that African-Canadian literature is not a recent phenomenon. His map covers vast and diverse territory , including the status of African-American culture as a "model for blackness," black and white racial metaphors in Quebecois literature, black women's search for history and more. This is a great introduction for newcomers, and a foundation for students in the field.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Lays an important foundation
Review: The term "African American" doesn't usually invoke images north of the 49th parallel, but it should. Not only because Canada was the longed for "Canaan Land" of so many spirituals and therefore, the ultimate home of many escaped slaves, nor because Nova Scotia and New France also had slaves, but because black communities have been a part of what we now call "Canada" since the beginning. George Elliott Clarke , an award winning poet, playwright, critic and scholar , is very much part of the literary map of Canada; this book gathers together a representative selection of his essays and reviews published over a decade and demonstrates that African-Canadian literature is not a recent phenomenon. His map covers vast and diverse territory , including the status of African-American culture as a "model for blackness," black and white racial metaphors in Quebecois literature, black women's search for history and more. This is a great introduction for newcomers, and a foundation for students in the field.

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