附註:Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-224) and index.
Introduction. "Out of Many, One": A Case of Multiple Childhoods -- I. "The Ending Up Is the Starting Out": The Bildungsroman Re/formed -- II. "Behold the Great Image of Authority": African West Indian Male Initiation -- III. "His Great Struggle Beginning": African American Male Initiation -- IV. Womanish Girls: African American Female Initiation -- V. Journeys to Selfhood: African West Indian Female Initiation -- Conclusion. Ten Is the Age of Darkness -- Chronology of the African American Bildungsroman -- Chronology of the African West Indian Bildungsroman.
摘要:In Ten Is the Age of Darkness, Geta LeSeur explores how black authors of the United States and the English-speaking Caribbean have taken a European literary tradition and adapted it to fit their own needs for self-expression. LeSeur begins by defining the European genre of the bildungsroman, then shows how the circumstances of colonialism, oppression, race, class, and gender make the maturing experiences of selected young black protagonists different from those of their white counterparts. Examining the parallels and differences in attitudes toward childhood in the West Indies and the United States, as well as the writers' individual perspectives in each work, LeSeur reaches intriguing conclusions about family life, community participation in the nurturing of children, the timing and severity of the youngsters' confrontation of adult society, and the role played by race in the journey toward adulthood. , LeSeur's readings of African American novels provide new insights into the work of Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, and Richard Wright, among others. When read as examples of the bildungsroman rather than simply as chronicles of black experiences, these works reveal an even deeper significance and have a more powerful impact.
