Diamond, David
TR 11:10 AM
Park Hall 126
This course examines representations of the Black Atlantic—defined as a geographical and cultural space and as an identity—in English-language literature from the early modern period to the present day. Although we begin with a few selections of colonial literature by European authors, such as Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, the course centers authors from African diasporas who depict movement (of people, feelings, ideas, texts, objects) across the Atlantic and/or across spans of history. Among them are Phillis Wheatley Peters, Olaudah Equiano, Martin Delany, James Baldwin, M. NourbeSe Philip, Tiana Clark, and Yaa Gyasi. To better understand the relationship between literature and the Black Atlantic, we pay particular attention to the ways these writers adapt literary forms, theories, and sources to their varied aesthetic and political objectives.