Afromodernisms: Paris, Harlem and the Avant-Garde

Persuasively argues for a black Atlantic literary renaissance and its impact on modernist studies

These 9 new chapters stretch current canonical configurations of modernism in two key ways: by considering the centrality of black artists, writers and intellectuals as key actors and core presences in the development of a modernist avant-garde; and by interrogating ‘blackness’ as an aesthetic and political category at critical moments during the early twentieth century. This is the first book-length publication to explore the term ‘Afromodernisms’ and the first study to address together the fields of modernism and the black Atlantic.

Key Features:

Sets a new agenda for the study of blackness and modernism

Opening essay from Tyler Stovall on Black Modernism and an Afterword from Bill Lawson

Identifies key locations of modernism: Harlem, Paris and the Caribbean

Addresses the question of gender, often overlooked in black Atlantic scholarship