Mason Korea Seminar Series
Monday, November 13, 2023 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM KST
Mason Korea (119 Songdomunhwa-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, Korea), G101
Title: Black Literary Lives Still Matter: The Art and Legacy of Ann Petry and Ernest J. Gaines
Speaker: Dr. Keith Clark, Distinguished University Professor of English and African and African American Studies, George Mason University
Date: 11/13 (Mon) 12:00 - 1:00 pm (KST)
Location: G101
While many students and scholars of American literature are familiar with such famous authors as Toni Morrison and James Baldwin, other accomplished writers remain unknown or underappreciated, especially outside of the United States.
Novelists/Short Story writers Ann Petry and Ernest J. Gaines are two such artists deserving a much wider readership and greater recognition.
Each has created fascinating and memorable characters in works that span several decades: Petry’s groundbreaking novel, The Street (1946), was the first by an African American woman to sell a million copies, while Gaines’s last novel, A Lesson before Dying (1993), was made into a successful HBO film starring the legendary actor Cicely Tyson.
This talk will explore the lives and legacies of two African-American literary titans. Their unique and powerful fiction demonstrates that Black Literary Lives Still matter--not only in America but around the globe.
