Born in a Mighty Bad Land: The Violent Man in African American Folklore and Fiction (Blacks in the Diaspora)

Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Introduction......Page 14
1 The Classic Badman and the Ballad......Page 22
2 Postbellum Violence and Its Causes: “Displaced Rage” in a Preindustrial Culture......Page 32
3 Between the Wars: The Genteel Novel, Counterstereotypes, and Initial Probes......Page 38
4 From the Genteel to the Primitive: The Twenties and Thirties......Page 53
5 The Ghetto Bildungsroman: From the Forties to the Seventies......Page 76
6 Toasts: Tales of the “Bad Nigger”......Page 102
7 Chester Himes: Harlem Absurd......Page 112
8 A “Toast” Novel: Pimps, Hoodlums, and Hit Men......Page 132
9 Walter Mosley and the Violent Men of Watts......Page 155
10 Rap: Going Commercial......Page 167
11 The Badman and the Storyteller: John Edgar Wideman’s Homewood Trilogy......Page 179
12 Toni Morrison: Ulysses, Badmen, and Archetypes—Abandoning Violence......Page 192
Appendix: Analysis of Thirty Prototype Ballads......Page 210
Notes......Page 212
Index......Page 242
About the Author......Page 251