Examining the Past in Black American Fiction: History, Temporality and Politics of the Black Body in Octavia Butler, Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison.

Abstract

‘Examining the Past in Black American Fiction’ is an essay about illustrating where links to the past can be seen within the novels of Octavia Butler, Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison, but more importantly emphasises the multiple ways in which these authors use this shared, collective history of trauma to explain the present conditions and experiences of African Americans. Within this essay, the main question explored is whether such authors deem an understanding of African American history as necessary for understanding contemporary politics and society in general and as the essay progresses, the various ways in which this is presented are dissected. After a detailed analysis of each selected text in relation to their context, this paper concludes that this connection is certainly deemed important by the authors discussed and that their works both literally and metaphorically show the past and present to be inextricably linked. It is an essay that engages with several issues key to Black American Fiction, such as politics, power, intersectionality and the fallible, constructed nature of history.