Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the "Racial" Self

348 Pages·1987·20.92 MB·English

by  Henry Louis Gates

FIGURES IN BLACK
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FIGURES IN BLACK
Words, Signs,
and the "Racial" Self
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1987 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
First published in 1989 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016-4314
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1989
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gates, Henry Louis.
Figures in Black.
Includes index.
Contents: Theory and the Black tradition—Phillis
Wheatley and the African muse—Rhetorical strategies
in Frederick Douglass's Narrative—[etc.]
1. American literature—Afro-American authors—
History and criticism. 2. Afro-Americans in literature.
3. Slavery and slaves in literature. 4. Race in
literature. I. Title.
PS153.N5G27 1987 810'.9'896073 86-21782
ISBN 0-19-503564-X
ISBN 0-19-506074-1 (PBK.)
68 1097 5
Printed in the United States of America
'Tis said that words and signs have power
O'er sprites in planetary hour;
But scarce I praise their venturous part,
Who tamper with such dangerous art.
Sir Walter Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel
White people leave money to their children, but Black people
teach theirs signs, which is far better,
Julia Peterkin, Black April
Anywhere they go, my people know the signs.
Henry Allen
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For
Houston A. Baker, Jr.,
Kimberly W. Benston,
and Robert G. O'Mealley—-
friends indeed
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Acknowledgments
During the ten years when the contents of this book were taking
shape, several friends and colleagues gave me the benefit of their
support—and the benefit of the doubt. Figures in Black would
never have been written without the encouragement of many
people who seemed to believe in my work long before I was
confident enough to do so. I would like to thank the following
people for their kindness and generosity: Anthony Appiah, Kim-
berly W. Benston, John W. Blassingame Sr., Malcolm Brachman,
Kit Luce, Dexter Fisher, William Forbath, Bruce Hawley, Leon
Forrest, Dominic Gambardella, Ishmael Reed, Paul Johnson, Mel
Watkins and Harvey Shapiro, Robert O'Meally, Robert Silvers,
Erroll McDonald, Allida Davison, Wole Soyinka, Carl Brandt,
David Brion Davis, Susan Rabiner, Sheldon Meyer, Curtis
Church, John Wright, Robert Farris Thompson, Paul Edward
Gates, Jonathan and Marianne Fineberg, John and Delgra Childs,
Sander Oilman, Richard Popkin, John Holloway, James Olney,
Fredric Jameson and Susan Willis, Robert and Michele Stepto,
Nancy Stepan, Barbara Johnson, W. J. T. Mitchell, James A.
Snead, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey H. Hartman, Kitty Mrosovsky,
Frank Poueymirou, and Duke Anthony Whitmore. I would like
to thank Sharon Adams for her patience and sustenance, and
Maggie and Liza Gates for their good will. But it was the late
Charles T. Davis who taught me to work to my capacities, to love
the literature that I was interpreting, and to hold it in the same