担当教員：メアリー ナイトン
講義題目：The Politics and Aesthetics of the Harlem Renaissance
This course takes up the historical period of the Harlem Renaissance in American literature and culture, centered on the 1920s in New York. This national and transnational movement in Negro arts resulted in some of the most unique and passionate artistic expressions of American life. Yet, for the “New Negro”, politics was hard to separate from aesthetics; indeed, politics and art were modified by race, gender, and sexuality to such an extent that Langston Hughes described the formidable task facing black artists as the “racial mountain.” We will examine short and long fiction; nonfiction socio-political and personal essays; philosophical writings in pragmatism; artwork in its Modernist context; films about the period, as well as music, poetry, and drama.
This course will be conducted in English but extra readings or research in Japanese, French, or other languages are both possible and welcome. Please attend the first class or contact me in advance to find out more.
Texts: David Levering Lewis, ed. The portable Harlem Renaissance Reader(1944), and others.