Being and Race: Black Writing Since 1970

Renowned scholar Charles Johnson’s exploration of contemporary black literature and the meaning of the black experience as expressed through the writers Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Paule Marshall, Richard Wright, Jean Toomer, David Bradley, and others.

Charles Johnson approaches contemporary black literature through the lens of phenomenology. Drawing on such philosophers as Heidegger, Husserl, Satre, and Dufrenne, Johnson addresses the esthetic and epistemological questions surrounding the black experience as expressed by African American authors. In exploring the works of other great writers, Being & Race enlarges our vision of what fiction’s purpose is and how it arises from our common experiences.