Owen E. Brady and Derek C. Maus (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604730883
- eISBN:
- 9781604733358
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604730883.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
In this book, thirteen chapters by scholars from four countries trace Walter Mosley’s distinctive approach to representing African American responses to the feeling of homelessness in an inhospitable ...
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In this book, thirteen chapters by scholars from four countries trace Walter Mosley’s distinctive approach to representing African American responses to the feeling of homelessness in an inhospitable America. Mosley (b. 1952) writes frequently of characters trying to construct an idea of home and wrest a sense of dignity, belonging, and hope from cultural and communal resources. The chapters examine his queries about the meaning of “home” in various social and historical contexts. Contributors consider the concept—whether it be material, social, cultural, or virtual—in all three of Mosley’s detective/crime fiction series (Easy Rawlins, Socrates Fortlow, and Fearless Jones), his three books of speculative fiction, two of his “literary” novels (RL’s Dream, The Man in My Basement), and in his recent social and political nonfiction. Chapters explore Mosley’s modes of expression, his testing of the limitations of genre, his political engagement in prose, his utopian/dystopian analyses, and his uses of parody and vernacular culture. The book provides rich discussions, explaining the development of Mosley’s work.Less
In this book, thirteen chapters by scholars from four countries trace Walter Mosley’s distinctive approach to representing African American responses to the feeling of homelessness in an inhospitable America. Mosley (b. 1952) writes frequently of characters trying to construct an idea of home and wrest a sense of dignity, belonging, and hope from cultural and communal resources. The chapters examine his queries about the meaning of “home” in various social and historical contexts. Contributors consider the concept—whether it be material, social, cultural, or virtual—in all three of Mosley’s detective/crime fiction series (Easy Rawlins, Socrates Fortlow, and Fearless Jones), his three books of speculative fiction, two of his “literary” novels (RL’s Dream, The Man in My Basement), and in his recent social and political nonfiction. Chapters explore Mosley’s modes of expression, his testing of the limitations of genre, his political engagement in prose, his utopian/dystopian analyses, and his uses of parody and vernacular culture. The book provides rich discussions, explaining the development of Mosley’s work.
Jerrilyn McGregory
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604730883
- eISBN:
- 9781604733358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604730883.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
This chapter examines the process of masculine self-definition in both the Fearless Jones novels and in the Easy Rawlins series, and uses the interrelated concepts of internal colonialism and ...
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This chapter examines the process of masculine self-definition in both the Fearless Jones novels and in the Easy Rawlins series, and uses the interrelated concepts of internal colonialism and alterity to probe the ways in which Walter Mosley undermines the process by which he sees African American men as being marginalized within American society. It argues that Mosley constructs a number of extraordinary characters who, if the power structure insists on their alterity, reconstitute their identity as Other by questioning this construction via self-definition. In essence, they invert the existing system by reflexively referencing these oppressive forces again as their own Other, or the Other’s Other. Rather than simply imposing a double negative, though, these protagonists shift their gaze by constructing an awareness of their regarded otherness while conspiring to combat these exoteric factors by their refusal to internalize oppression.Less
This chapter examines the process of masculine self-definition in both the Fearless Jones novels and in the Easy Rawlins series, and uses the interrelated concepts of internal colonialism and alterity to probe the ways in which Walter Mosley undermines the process by which he sees African American men as being marginalized within American society. It argues that Mosley constructs a number of extraordinary characters who, if the power structure insists on their alterity, reconstitute their identity as Other by questioning this construction via self-definition. In essence, they invert the existing system by reflexively referencing these oppressive forces again as their own Other, or the Other’s Other. Rather than simply imposing a double negative, though, these protagonists shift their gaze by constructing an awareness of their regarded otherness while conspiring to combat these exoteric factors by their refusal to internalize oppression.
