This reader collects sixty of the personal essays, critical articles, and other seminal works of Addison Gayle Jr., one of the most influential figures in African American literary criticism and a key pioneer in the Black Arts/Black Aesthetic Movement. The volume contains selective essays that represent the range of Gayle's writing on such subjects as relationships between father and son, cultural nationalism, racism, black aesthetics, black criticism, and black literature. The collection, the first of its kind, includes definitive essays such as "Blueprint for Black Criticism," "The Harlem Renaissance: Toward a Black Aesthetic," and "Cultural Strangulation: Black Literature and the White Aesthetics." A key chapter from Gayle's autobiography is supplemented by his literary criticism, and a general introduction and editor's notes for each section discuss the articles' lasting significance and influence.

Nathaniel Norment Jr. is an associate professor and chair of African American Studies at Temple University and the editor of The African American Studies Reader and Readings in African American Language: Aspects, Features, And Perspectives.

Preface   xi
Acknowledgments   xv
Credits   xvii
Chronology   xxi
Introduction   xxiii
PART 1: BLACK SITUATIONS
1. White Experts -- Black Subjects   3
2. Letter to a White Colleague   8
3. The Cabinet of the Mind   14
4. Nat Turner and the Black Nationalists   24
5. Black Power and Existential Politics   29
6. Black Power or Black Fascism?   36
7. "Hell No, Black Men Won't Go!"   42
8. Racism and the American University   50
9. Dreams of a Native Son   60
PART 2: BLACK AESTHETICS
10. The Harlem Renaissance: Towards a Black Aesthetic   71
11. The Black Aesthetic: The Defender   81
12. Cultural Nationalism: The Black Novelist in America   92
13. Cultural Strangulation: Black Literature and the White Aesthetic   101
14. Separate, Not Mutual Estates   107
15. Reclaiming the Southern Experience: The Black Aesthetic 10 Years Later   116
16. The Negro Critic: Invisible Man in American Literature: An Essay Review   124
17. The Politics of Revolution: Afro-American Literature   131
18. Revolutionary Philosophy: Three Black Writers   139
19. The Function of Black Literature at the Present Time   148
PART 3: LITERARY CRITICISM
20. Blueprint for Black Criticism   159
21. The Function of Black Criticism at the Present Time   170
22. The Critic, the University, and the Negro Writer   176
23. Cultural Hegemony: The Southern White Writer and American Letters   180
24. Gwendolyn Brooks: Poet of the Whirlwind   193
25. A Defense of James Baldwin   201
26. Richard Wright: Beyond Nihilism   207
27. Langston Hughes: A Simple Commentary   212
28. The Literature of Protest   216
29. Literature as Catharsis: The Novels of Paul Laurence Dunbar   220
30. The Dialectic of The Fire Next Time   230
PART 4: BOOK INTRODUCTIONS, FOREWORDS, AND PREFACES
31. Youngblood by John Oliver Killens (Foreword)   235
32. 'Sippi by John Oliver Killens (Foreword)   239
33. Five on the Black Hand Side: A Play in Three Acts by Charlie L. Russell (Introduction)   244
34. Forerunners: Black Poets in America by Woodie King Jr. (Introduction)   248
35. Great Gitt'in Up Morning: The Story of Denmark Vesey by John Oliver Killens (Introduction)   258
36. Great Black Russian: A Novel on the Life and Times of Alexander Pushkin by John Killens (Introduction)   265
37. Black Expression: Essays by and about Black Americans in the Creative Arts (Preface)   272
38. Oak and Ivy: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar (Introduction)   280
39. Richard Wright: Ordeal of a Native Son (Introduction)   285
40. Claude McKay: The Poet at War (Introduction)   292
41. The Black Aesthetic (Introduction)   297
42. Bondage, Freedom, and Beyond: The Prose of Black Americans (Introduction)   304
43. The Way of the New World: The Black Novel in America (Introduction)   308
44. The Way of the New World: The Black Novel in America (Afterword)   319
PART 5: BOOK REVIEWS
45. Two Views of . . .'Winesellers'. . .A Yea Say   325
46. Coming Home by George Davis   326
47. An Open Letter to the Editor of the New York Times Book Review   330
48. Ludell: Beyond Native Son by Brenda Wilkinson   334
49. Onyx Magazine: The Politics of Survival   340
50. Reviews: FLight to Canada by Ishmael Reed/Eva's Man by Gayl Jones   344
51. What We Must See -- Young Black Storytellers edited and introduction by Orde Coombs/The Hungered One -- Early Writings by Ed Bullins   350
52. Blueschild Baby by George Cain   353
53. Love STory Black by William Demby   355
PART 6: AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
54. Addison Gayle: Interviewed by Saundra Towns   359
55. I Endured   381
56. The Son of My Father   389
57. Excerpt from Wayward Child: A Personal Odyssey   400
58. Black Fathers and Their Sons: Part I   413
59. Black Fathers and Their Sons: Part II   424
60. The Children of Bigger Thomas   431
Selected Bibliography   441
Index   445