20th Century American Literature - General & Miscellaneous - Literary Criticism, Women Authors - American (U.S.) - Literary Criticism, U.S. & Canadian Drama - Literary Criticism, African American Literature - Literary Criticism, 19th Century American Lite

Peculiar Passages

Name: Peculiar Passages
Author: Carol Dawn Allen
ISBN: 9780820476193

by Carol Dawn Allen

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Overview

This book features African American women playwrights from 1875 to 2000, with an emphasis on the late nineteenth century, a period rarely treated in regard to women's drama. Highlighting the lesser-known Pauline Hopkins, Angelina Weld Grimke, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Eulalie Spence, and May Miller, and the well-known Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Childress, Adrienne Kennedy, and Ntozake Shange, Peculiar Passages argues that these playwrights' efforts define a tradition characterized by quick-change mobility, sensitivity to vernacular forms, and dedication to intertextual dialogue. Situating the plays within a broader context, the book also connects them to minstrelsy, the Passion Play, and the Black Arts Movement.