Publicación: Black Music In African-American Fiction: Catharsis, Identity And Emancipation
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2022-03-15
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (España). Facultad de Filología
Resumen
Este estudio busca explorar las formas en las que la música negra ha influido en la ficción afroamericana y cómo su presencia es un tema más de sus narrativas que actúa con un propósito catártico, identificadora y emancipador. Durante y después del Renacimiento de Harlem, la comunidad negra de los Estados Unidos comenzó a articular libremente y sin miedo sus pensamientos y sentimientos. Este renacimiento cultural, donde la música era una de las mayores formas de autoexpresión, dio forma, tanto individual como colectivamente, a una identidad racial y cultural sin ataduras conocida como ‘The New Negro’. Los autores afroamericanos James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed y Toni Morrison sitúan deliberadamente sus historias en este contexto urbano donde la música funciona como una herramienta sanadora, definitoria y liberadora. En el primer capítulo, se estudia el uso de la música por parte de Baldwin en su cuento Sonny’s Blues como un medio de supervivencia, conexión e independencia, capaz de reconciliar lazos familiares y curar adicciones, así como de poseer y representar la voz de toda la comunidad negra. En segundo lugar, la representación afrofuturista del jazz por parte de Reed en Mumbo Jumbo como un virus incontrolable e infeccioso, el ‘Jes Grew’, encarna un camino seductor hacia la autodefinición, el éxtasis y la libertad, con el objetivo de recuperar la historia afroamericana. Finalmente, se muestra que las alusiones musicales de Toni Morrison en Jazz representan, de manera implícita pero omnipresente, un motivo unificador y redentor para Harlem y su gente, destacando así una vez más la presencia significativa y ubicua de la música en su vida y su arte. Para comprender el impacto de este hito histórico y artístico y por lo tanto la influencia de la música en la literatura, una combinación de las convincentes ideas de los filósofos W.E.B Du Bois y Alain Locke, los ensayos fundamentales del escritor Amiri Baraka y artículos específicos sobre literatura afroamericana y su cultura fueron empleados en este estudio. Como argumenta este trabajo, la música negra es un motivo recurrente y simbólico utilizado en la ficción afroamericana con propósitos reparadores, liberadores y significativos para encontrar alivio a heridas pasadas, abrazar una negrura libre y reconceptualizar con orgullo la llamada identidad del Nuevo Negro nacido durante el Renacimiento de Harlem.
This study seeks to explore the ways in which black music has influenced African American fiction and how its presence is a further subject matter of their narratives which acts as a cathartic, identity-making and emancipatory identity-making motif. During and after the Harlem Renaissance, the black community of the United States began to freely and shamelessly articulate their thoughts and feelings. This cultural revival, where music was one of the biggest forms of self-expression, shaped the unbound racial and cultural identity of ‘The New Negro’, both individually and collectively. African American authors James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed and Toni Morrison purposely set their stories in this urban context where music operates as a healing, defining and freeing tool. In the first chapter, Baldwin’s use of music in his short story Sonny’s Blues is studied as a means of survival, connection and agency, capable of reconciling familiar ties and healing addiction as well as owning and representing the voice of the whole black community. Secondly, Reed’s afro-futurist representation of jazz in Mumbo Jumbo as an uncontrollable and infectious virus, the ‘Jes Grew’, embodies a seductive path towards self-definition, ecstasy and freedom with the aim to reclaim African American history. Finally, Toni Morrison’s musical allusions in Jazz are shown to represent, in an implicit but omnipresent way, a unifying and redemptive motif for Harlem and its people, highlighting thus once more the meaningful and ubiquitous presence of music in their life and art. In order to understand the impact of this historical and artistic landmark, and therefore the influence of music in literature, a combination of the compelling ideas of philosophers W.E.B Du Bois and Alain Locke, writer Amiri Baraka’s seminal essays and specific journals on African-American literature and culture were thoroughly employed. As this work argues, black music is a recurrent and symbolic motif used in African American fiction with restorative, liberating and signifying purposes so as to find relief from past wounds, embrace a free blackness and proudly reconceptualise the so-called ‘New Negro’ identity born during the Harlem Renaissance.
This study seeks to explore the ways in which black music has influenced African American fiction and how its presence is a further subject matter of their narratives which acts as a cathartic, identity-making and emancipatory identity-making motif. During and after the Harlem Renaissance, the black community of the United States began to freely and shamelessly articulate their thoughts and feelings. This cultural revival, where music was one of the biggest forms of self-expression, shaped the unbound racial and cultural identity of ‘The New Negro’, both individually and collectively. African American authors James Baldwin, Ishmael Reed and Toni Morrison purposely set their stories in this urban context where music operates as a healing, defining and freeing tool. In the first chapter, Baldwin’s use of music in his short story Sonny’s Blues is studied as a means of survival, connection and agency, capable of reconciling familiar ties and healing addiction as well as owning and representing the voice of the whole black community. Secondly, Reed’s afro-futurist representation of jazz in Mumbo Jumbo as an uncontrollable and infectious virus, the ‘Jes Grew’, embodies a seductive path towards self-definition, ecstasy and freedom with the aim to reclaim African American history. Finally, Toni Morrison’s musical allusions in Jazz are shown to represent, in an implicit but omnipresent way, a unifying and redemptive motif for Harlem and its people, highlighting thus once more the meaningful and ubiquitous presence of music in their life and art. In order to understand the impact of this historical and artistic landmark, and therefore the influence of music in literature, a combination of the compelling ideas of philosophers W.E.B Du Bois and Alain Locke, writer Amiri Baraka’s seminal essays and specific journals on African-American literature and culture were thoroughly employed. As this work argues, black music is a recurrent and symbolic motif used in African American fiction with restorative, liberating and signifying purposes so as to find relief from past wounds, embrace a free blackness and proudly reconceptualise the so-called ‘New Negro’ identity born during the Harlem Renaissance.
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Palabras clave
música Negra, ficción Afroamericana, catarsis, identidad, emancipación, Nuevo Negro, Black music, African-American fiction, catharsis, identity, emancipation, New Negro
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Facultades y escuelas::Facultad de Filología
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