Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature A Vernacular Theory
by Houston A. Baker, Jr.
University of Chicago Press, 1987
Cloth: 978-0-226-03536-9 | Paper: 978-0-226-03538-3 | Electronic: 978-0-226-16084-9
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226160849.001.0001
ABOUT THIS BOOKTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Relating the blues to American social and literary history and to Afro-American expressive culture, Houston A. Baker, Jr., offers the basis for a broader study of American culture at its "vernacular" level. He shows how the "blues voice" and its economic undertones are both central to the American narrative and characteristic of the Afro-American way of telling it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One. Figurations for a New American Literary History: Archaeology, Ideology, and Afro-American Discourse

Chapter Two. Discovering America: Generational Shifts, Afro-American Literary Critcism, and the Study of Expressive Culture

Chapter Three. A Dream of American Form: Fictive Discourse, Black (W)holes, and a Blues Book Most Excellent

Conclusion

Notes

Index