Publisher's Synopsis
This collection relies on the language of literary aesthetics to examine Du Bois's political agenda and, conversely, on varying accounts of that political agenda to assess his aesthetic choices. It also helps us understand why Souls became a literary and political classic and has played such a decisive role in the formation of twentieth-century African American literature and political thought. The essays explore a variety of topics, including the possibility that Souls was modeled on Richard Wagner's idea of a total artwork, Du Bois's thinking about the political significance of homosociality, and the interplay of racialism, nationalism, and globalism in Souls.
Contributors. Anne E. Carroll, Vilashini Cooppan, Robert Gooding-Williams, Sheila Lloyd, Dwight A. McBride, Charles I. Nero, Cheryl A. Wall, Alexander G. Weheliye
