The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism
Description
A landmark study of African and African-American literary traditions, this work explores how Black writers draw on vernacular language, folklore, mythology, and cultural memory to create distinctive forms of expression. Moving across African, Caribbean, Latin American, and American texts, it traces the continuities and transformations linking oral traditions with written literature. The book introduces a powerful critical framework rooted in the Black vernacular, challenging conventional approaches and making space for African-American voices to define their own literary meanings. Scholarly yet richly imaginative, it remains an influential examination of language, identity, cultural inheritance, and the act of interpretation.
Available Editions
paperback
Oxford University Press, USA
Published Dec 14, 1989
318 pages
ISBN: 9780195060751
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Details
First Published
1988
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism by Henry Louis Gates, Jr..