Book Description

This book makes a distinguished analysis of the nature of commitment in the works of James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison, two of the most renowned Black writers of the century. This investigation involves an understanding of the social milieu against the background of the rapidly changing character of Black fiction keeping pace with the complex development of the Black American community in constant quest of a political and cultural identity. Haunted by the memories of slavery, protest and fury, and the contradictory search for dignity in a world dominated by White values, the conflict between the artistic and political natures of the writer, his sexual complexities, the existential quality of his life, his need for an ethnic definition of himself, the Black writer found his mission challenging. Richard Wright, who established that "the Negro is America's metaphor", gave the Black American novel a place of its own in American literature. This thesis takes up the works of the two major Black writers who succeeded him to examine the distinct individual methods adopted to serve the common cause. Equally deep in commitment to society, Baldwin and Ellison differed in perspectives and methods of execution. This book, then, makes exhaustive analytical studies of their masterpieces against the background of complex political and ethnic configurations and the resultant political, social and psychological problems. It attempts to present an evaluation of their respective contributions which are the same in essentials but differ in details.