Black Literature not rooted in black tropes (such as.. Slavery, Jim Crow, Modern Day Microagressions)

[WTFisWallace?]

I read blood and bone. Power system was convoluted and the plot armor was a little off putting but I enjoyed it. Like you said you can tell it’s YA book but what was the part you felt had c00n elements.

It’s been a minute…but I recall feeling like the protagonist was wanting white (or the oppressors) validation.

If I remember correctly all of the characters are black….but I took the oppressive class as being a stand in for whites. The dynamic between I believe Zhelie? and the Prince was just off putting to me. Seeking validation, forgiving terrible actions, minimizing transgressions…i just wasn’t fukking with it.




But again I don’t exactly recall everything from that book, just remember how i felt.

 

[TheKongoEmpire]

The count of Monte Cristo

Thomas-Alexandre had been born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), the mixed-race, natural son of the marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman and général commissaire in the artillery of the colony, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an enslaved woman of Afro-Caribbean ancestry. At the time of Thomas-Alexandre's birth, his father was impoverished. It is not known whether his mother was born in Saint-Domingue or in Africa, nor is it known from which African people her ancestors came.[8][9][10]

He don't count. Trust me.

 

[earthwalka]

Bumping this to say my dad put me on this author by the name of Stephen L. Carter. Anyone read his stuff before?

 

[voltronblack]

Bumping this to say my dad put me on this author by the name of Stephen L. Carter. Anyone read his stuff before?

he does alot political thriller here one of these books

Back Channel (2014) is a thriller set against the background of the Cuban Missile Crisis. a second negotiation—the "back channel"—kept secret even from most of Kennedy's closest advisers. The protagonist, Margo Jensen, a 19-year-old black college student, finds both her courage and her intellect tested constantly as she is thrust unwillingly into the center of great events. She must risk her life as Kennedy's envoy and risk her reputation as (supposedly) Kennedy's lover , all the while seeking to uncover the hidden connection between her own family's past and the crisis unfolding around her. Real people here include Bobby Fischer, the 19-year-old chess champion of the United States and Aleksandr Fomin, head of the KGB's Washington station. Fictional characters from previous works include Jericho Ainsley (Jericho's Fall), Tori Elden (Palace Council), and Kimmer Madison (The Emperor of Ocean Park; New England White) as a toddler.

 

[earthwalka]

he does alot political thriller here one of these books

bet imma peep this

 

[Neuromancer]

"Big Machine" by Victor LaValle

Vic is a great writer.

 

[EARFQUAKE]

Archive of our Own has a bunch of original content to be real with you. You can read those for free.

@Turk

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

The book industry is similar to the music industry in that they have mainstream authors and independent authors. The mainstream looks for certain things and given the sudden desire for “diverse books” you’ve got the big five throwing money at authors to put out particular types of works.

As a bookseller I’ve definitely noticed the severe lack of straight Black men releasing books. It’s to the point that when I order frontlist titles and it’s a Black man that wrote it I automatically assume that they’re

But when it comes to indy authors, smaller publishing houses, some academic pubs, etc you might have a bit more success. Also keep in mind that the very few Black owned publishers we do have are small and don’t draw the same support as the majors do.

But man, if Black people ever got their own Fyodor Dostoyevsky that would be fukkin sick I’d read all of that shyt.

Edit: one thing I will definitely say is that literature is a much better creative space for Black people given that this society’s main tools of inculcation are music and film. In order to truly be able to be a brilliant writer it would require you to have an imagination and vision which breaks beyond typical archetypes portrayed in a fashion more suited for “mainstream” audiences. Not to say that music or film can’t also have more radical takes but I feel as though writing forces you to read to such a degree that you’ll have a wider artistic scope within your field.

But on the whole, Black literature is absolutely dynamic and, as a Black person, it’s much more valued to me than non-Black fiction.

 

[Mashal88]

up.

 

[Neuromancer]

Tbh The Gideon series by Eric Jerome dikkie (RIP)

 

[987654321]

Dope Sci-fi series that was supposed to end up on TV or the theaters.

 

[ORDER_66]

I'm working on a space opera... let you know when its done...

 

[get these nets]

@earthwalka

 

[Jimmy from Linkedin]

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison deals with Black identity. I don't think it deals with tropes and to a degree has similarities to Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes From The Underground.

fukk I'll say it - Invisible Man is better than Dostoevsky's best work and I'm a Dostoevsky fan. But Invisible Man is a straight masterpiece. It deserves serious consideration as the greatest American novel - just layers upon layers upon layers.

I'm rereading invisible man now... sheesh. I listened to it during the C.O.W.S book club. Read by Joe Morton. I knew it was good then but I didn't get the full picture because of their discourse around it.

It truly is a masterful work. Especially if you are or have been politically active it really hurts.

I'm also now able to see/ read it as absurdist/surrealism. It's just one of the best books I've ever read.

 

[Afro]

I'm rereading invisible man now... sheesh. I listened to it during the C.O.W.S book club. Read by Joe Morton. I knew it was good then but I didn't get the full picture because of their discourse around it.

It truly is a masterful work. Especially if you are or have been politically active it really hurts.

I'm also now able to see/ read it as absurdist/surrealism. It's just one of the best books I've ever read.

Just bought it off of Amazon because of this thread. Good looks.