Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Catalogue 
    
2019-2020 Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENGL 12032 - Jazz & African American Literature

Course Credit: 1
JAZZ & AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE What did jazz-the central form of black expression in the twentieth century-mean to African American writers and their literary aesthetics? Did the music offer a promise or a snare, a provocation or an example? We will approach that complex question by looking at the myriad ways-thematic and formal-that the genre influenced pivotal figures from the Harlem Renaissance, forcing them into bolder forms of verbal experimentation. We will also examine how the jazz tradition began, by looking at the role of spirituals in slave narratives, and where the tradition persists today, in the poetic dimensions of contemporary hip-hop. NOTE: English 120XX can be taken only once for departmental credit; students may take a second English 120XX for College credit only. [AH]