Gates, Henry Louis - The Signifying Monkey

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s original, groundbreaking study explores the relationship between the African and African-American vernacular traditions and black literature, elaborating a new critical approach located within this tradition that allows the black voice to speak for itself.

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CONTENTS

New Preface
Introduction
Part I
1. A Myth of Origins:Esu Elegbara and the Signifying Mokey
2. The Signifying Monkey and the Language of Signifyin(g): Rhetorical Difference and the Orders of Meaning
3. Figures of Significance
Part II
4. The Trope of the Talking Book
5. Zora Neale Hurston and the Speakerly Text
6. On The Blackness of Blackness: Ishmael Reed and a Critique of the Sign
7. Color Me Zora: Alice Walker's (Re) Writing of the Speakerly Text
New Afterward
Notes
Index