A study of postmodernism and African-American poets.

Black Chant traces the embrace and transformation of black modernisms and postmodernisms by African-American poets in the decades after the Second World War. Centering on groups of avant-garde poets, the study particularly attends to those poets whose radical forms of new writing formed the basis for much of what followed in the Black Arts period. Exploring the farthest reaches of black creative experimentation in words and music, Black Chant yields an invaluable reassessment of African-American cultural history as it has been shaped throughout the era we now call postmodern.

In a purgatory at the banks of the Hiwasee River in Southeastern Tennessee, two teenagers—the garrulous John Stone and the young Jenny Evenene—barrel through an endless night in a Firebird Trans Am. Jenny wakes each morning, the same morning, and chronicles the events of her final day, her memory reaching back into the recesses of mythical time, recollecting cosmogonies, eschatologies, and metamorphoses that mingle with the details of her violent end. As the two heroes drive through the night, drinking cold American beer and listening to the soothing tunes of the country music station, the dramatis personae of the process of decomposition encroach upon them from the darkness beyond the headlights: the turkey vultures that soar above them, baited by decaying corpses, are at once the successors of the sacred buzzard whose talons first massaged the earth into being and the double of the screaming chicken emblazoned on the hood of the Firebird, which is itself at once the illustrious automobile of teenage dreams, vehicle of transmigrating souls, and ancient phoenix, millennial sigil of the sun, of biochemical resurrections, and Heraclitean thunderbolt who steers all things.

Music has been at the heart of Christian worship since the beginning, and this lavishly illustrated and wonderfully written volume fully surveys the many centuries of creative Christian musical experimentation. From its roots in Jewish and Hellenistic music, through the rich tapestry of medieval chant to the full flowering of Christian music in the centuries after the Reformation and the many musical expressions of a now-global Christianity, Wilson-Dickson conveys 'a glimpse of the fecundity of imagination with which humanity has responded to the creator God.' Book jacket.

Professional assassin and martial arts master Chant is about to go from hunter to hunted in this thriller from the author of the Mongo Mysteries. John “Chant” Sinclair is precise, patient, perfect. A highly trained killer with a mastery of martial arts, he’s able to slip in and out of any situation, in any disguise, all while maintaining absolute control. In a former life Chant was a soldier, but now he’s the world’s most wanted criminal, working for himself and taking only the jobs he wants. Governments want to either hire him or kill him. No matter the foe, Chant’s skills have made him untouchable . . . until now. Years ago, one man taught Chant to be a dealer of death, a warrior whose very name, Bai, strikes fear into the hearts of men. Now, Bai has been hired to take out his former protégé, and when master and student face off, only one will emerge victorious—and alive. Chant is the 1st book in the Chant Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Essays exploring contemporary black fiction and examining important issues in current African American literary studies. In this volume, Lovalerie King and Shirley Moody-Turner have compiled a collection of essays that offer access to some of the most innovative contemporary black fiction while addressing important issues in current African American literary studies. Distinguished scholars Houston Baker, Trudier Harris, Darryl Dickson-Carr, and Maryemma Graham join writers and younger scholars to explore the work of Toni Morrison, Edward P. Jones, Trey Ellis, Paul Beatty, Mat Johnson, Kyle Baker, Danzy Senna, Nikki Turner, and many others. The collection is bracketed by a foreword by novelist and graphic artist Mat Johnson, one of the most exciting and innovative contemporary African American writers, and an afterword by Alice Randall, author of the controversial parody The Wind Done Gone. Together, King and Moody-Turner make the case that diversity, innovation, and canon expansion are essential to maintaining the vitality of African American literary studies. “A compelling collection of essays on the ongoing relevance of African American literature to our collective understanding of American history, society, and culture. Featuring a wide array of writers from all corners of the literary academy, the book will have national appeal and offer strategies for teaching African American literature in colleges and universities across the country.” —Gene Jarrett, Boston University “[This book describes] a fruitful tension that brings scholars of major reputation together with newly emerging critics to explore the full range of literary activities that have flourished in the post-Civil Rights era. Notable are such popular influences as hip-hop music and Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club.” —American Literary Scholarship, 2013