Contrary to previous studies of Tillie Olsen’s writing, Tillie Olsen and the Dialectical Philosophy of Proletarian Literature analyzes the impact of one of the most important philosophies of the last century, dialectical materialism, on the form and content of Olsen’s fiction. By revealing the unconceptualized dialectics of Olsen’s work and its appreciation by scholars and casual readers, this study achieves a dialectical synthesis that incorporates and extends the insights of and about Olsen in terms of dialectical materialism. By foregrounding Olsen’s dialectical approach, it explains and largely resolves apparent contradictions between her Marxism and feminism; her depictions of class, race, and gender; the literature of her earlier and later periods; and her use of realist and modernist literary forms and techniques. Consequently, this project makes a case for the importance of Olsen’s Marxist education during the “Red Decade” of the 1930s and within the U.S. proletarian literary movement.

During and after the Harlem Renaissance, two intellectual forces --nationalism and Marxism--clashed and changed the future of African American writing. Current literary thinking says that writers with nationalist leanings wrote the most relevant fiction, poetry, and prose of the day. Nationalism, Marxism, and African American Literature Between the Wars: A New Pandora's Box challenges that notion. It boldly proposes that such writers as A. Philip Randolph, Langston Hughes, and Richard Wright, who often saw the world in terms of class struggle, did more to advance the anti-racist politics of African American letters than writers such as Countee Cullen, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Alain Locke, and Marcus Garvey, who remained enmeshed in nationalist and racialist discourse. Evaluating the great impact of Marxism and nationalism on black authors from the Harlem Renaissance and the Depression era, Anthony Dawahare argues that the spread of nationalist ideologies and movements between the world wars did guide legitimate political desires of black writers for a world without racism. But the nationalist channels of political and cultural resistance did not address the capitalist foundation of modern racial discrimination. During the period known as the ""Red Decade"" (1929-1941), black writers developed some of the sharpest critiques of the capitalist world and thus anticipated contemporary scholarship on the intellectual and political hazards of nationalism for the working class. As it examines the progression of the Great Depression, the book focuses on the shift of black writers to the Communist Left, including analyses of the Communists' position on the ""Negro Question,"" the radical poetry of Langston Hughes, and the writings of Richard Wright.

Offers a (re)consideration of the impact of radical conceptions of Christ on modern U.S. literature, its critique of inegalitarian social relations, and its visions for a just society. The Red Christ argues that some of the most popular social protest literature published in the U.S. between 1890 and 1940 was inseparable from "e;Social Christianity,"e; a historically important movement deeply concerned with issues of social justice. As this study shows, various images and iterations of the "e;red"e; Christ, including Christ as the exploited worker, the lynched, and the persecuted radical, were used to critique unjust power structures. Christ's self-sacrifice and compassion inspired hope for an earthly "e;kingdom"e; that recognized and respected the infinite worth of all human beings. Like the writers it studies, The Red Christ recovers the "e;dangerous memory"e; of Christ that mainstream Christianity largely continues to ignore.Anthony Dawahare reads a broad range of writers - including Albion Tourgee, Charles Monroe Sheldon, Upton Sinclair, W. E. B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, and Dorothy Day - to demonstrate that this radical tradition of Christianity is woven into the fabric of U.S. literature. While Social Christianity waned with the onset of World War I, post-war writers continued to appropriate its message, vision, and tropes to critique racism, sexism, war, fascism, and class inequality. Writings from the Harlem Renaissance, the Proletarian Literary Movement, and the Catholic Worker Movement bear witness to the continuing influence of the Red Christ on modern American writers. This study thus deepens our understanding of modern U.S. protest literature by revealing its submerged religious roots in a politically subversive Christianity.

Contrary to previous studies of Tillie Olsen’s writing, Tillie Olsen and the Dialectical Philosophy of Proletarian Literature analyzes the impact of one of the most important philosophies of the last century, dialectical materialism, on the form and content of Olsen’s fiction. By revealing the unconceptualized dialectics of Olsen’s work and its appreciation by scholars and casual readers, this study achieves a dialectical synthesis that incorporates and extends the insights of and about Olsen in terms of dialectical materialism. By foregrounding Olsen’s dialectical approach, it explains and largely resolves apparent contradictions between her Marxism and feminism; her depictions of class, race, and gender; the literature of her earlier and later periods; and her use of realist and modernist literary forms and techniques. Consequently, this project makes a case for the importance of Olsen’s Marxist education during the “Red Decade” of the 1930s and within the U.S. proletarian literary movement.

During and after the Harlem Renaissance, two intellectual forces --nationalism and Marxism--clashed and changed the future of African American writing. Current literary thinking says that writers with nationalist leanings wrote the most relevant fiction, poetry, and prose of the day. Nationalism, Marxism, and African American Literature Between the Wars: A New Pandora's Box challenges that notion. It boldly proposes that such writers as A. Philip Randolph, Langston Hughes, and Richard Wright, who often saw the world in terms of class struggle, did more to advance the anti-racist politics of African American letters than writers such as Countee Cullen, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Alain Locke, and Marcus Garvey, who remained enmeshed in nationalist and racialist discourse. Evaluating the great impact of Marxism and nationalism on black authors from the Harlem Renaissance and the Depression era, Anthony Dawahare argues that the spread of nationalist ideologies and movements between the world wars did guide legitimate political desires of black writers for a world without racism. But the nationalist channels of political and cultural resistance did not address the capitalist foundation of modern racial discrimination. During the period known as the ""Red Decade"" (1929-1941), black writers developed some of the sharpest critiques of the capitalist world and thus anticipated contemporary scholarship on the intellectual and political hazards of nationalism for the working class. As it examines the progression of the Great Depression, the book focuses on the shift of black writers to the Communist Left, including analyses of the Communists' position on the ""Negro Question,"" the radical poetry of Langston Hughes, and the writings of Richard Wright.

Offers a (re)consideration of the impact of radical conceptions of Christ on modern U.S. literature, its critique of inegalitarian social relations, and its visions for a just society. The Red Christ argues that some of the most popular social protest literature published in the U.S. between 1890 and 1940 was inseparable from "e;Social Christianity,"e; a historically important movement deeply concerned with issues of social justice. As this study shows, various images and iterations of the "e;red"e; Christ, including Christ as the exploited worker, the lynched, and the persecuted radical, were used to critique unjust power structures. Christ's self-sacrifice and compassion inspired hope for an earthly "e;kingdom"e; that recognized and respected the infinite worth of all human beings. Like the writers it studies, The Red Christ recovers the "e;dangerous memory"e; of Christ that mainstream Christianity largely continues to ignore.Anthony Dawahare reads a broad range of writers - including Albion Tourgee, Charles Monroe Sheldon, Upton Sinclair, W. E. B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, and Dorothy Day - to demonstrate that this radical tradition of Christianity is woven into the fabric of U.S. literature. While Social Christianity waned with the onset of World War I, post-war writers continued to appropriate its message, vision, and tropes to critique racism, sexism, war, fascism, and class inequality. Writings from the Harlem Renaissance, the Proletarian Literary Movement, and the Catholic Worker Movement bear witness to the continuing influence of the Red Christ on modern American writers. This study thus deepens our understanding of modern U.S. protest literature by revealing its submerged religious roots in a politically subversive Christianity.