Street, Text, and Representation in African American Literature

Mattius Rischard is an Assistant Professor of English at Montana State University-Northern. He received his M.A. and PhD at the University of Arizona from the Department of English and Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory Programs, specializing in African American literature of the 20th century, with focus on the urban novel and digital/visual culture. He has taught writing and literature for the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, and as a Writing Assessment Specialist for the University of Texas system. He publishes and presents on sociohistorical, aesthetic, and phenomenological methods for reading the problematics of modernity across academic, popular, and marginal representations of urban life.

• 1. Introduction: Writing the Urban Dwellinga. Black Literary Authenticity: Humanism versus Pessimismb. Aims, Questions, and Methodologiesc. The Purpose of this Studyd. The Double-Edged Sword of Urban Sociologye. Street Literature as Responding to the Urban Sociological Mythosf. A Note on Interpretation and Value2. Part I: Streeta. Chapter Synopsisb. Introductionc. Preparing to Read the Streetd. Street Literature at the Intersection of Blackness and Urbanizatione. The Street Novel: An Urban Differential in Literaturef. A Close Reading of Two Gen(d)erations in Street Novels: Iceberg Slimg. A Close Reading of Two Gen(d)erations in Street Novels: Sister Souljahh. Conclusion3. Part II: Texta. Chapter Synopsisb. Introduction: Four Tropes of the Street-as-Textc. Temporal Factors Affecting Tropological Semanticsd. Passing: A Comparative Reading of Himes, Beck, and Tyreee. Peddling: A Comparative Reading of Autobiographical Street Fictionf. Pandering: A Comparative Reading of Sexual Exchange and Economyg. Preaching: A Comparative Reading of Demagogues and Messiahsh. Rinehart’s Face(lessness): (De)constructing the Four Tropesi. Rinehartism and the Author-Function Problem in Street Literaturej. Defining Rinehartism with Strong Semanticsk. Table 1: The Ontology of Rinehartisml. Conclusion4. Part III: Representationa. Chapter Synopsisb. Introductionc. Language Structures the Expression of (Black) Beingd. Implications of Language that Frames Being-in-the-Streete. The Ethical Work of Street Novelsf. Satirizing Street Publishing: Tyree and Everettg. Satirizing Street Movements: The Fanonian Ontology of Widemanh. Satirizing Street Culture: Beatty and Mansbachi. The Postmodernism of Street Satirej. Conclusion5. Conclusion; or, Redefining Street Cultural Productiona. Introductionb. Musicc. Imaged. Texte. Praxisf. Conclusion