Page 131 - Introducing Cultural Studies
P. 131
enry Louis
Gates, Jr.
What is black literature? What
is black criticism? Henry
Louis Gates, Jr. (b. 1950) is
concerned with these
questions. Are black critics in
danger when they use literary
theory that originates in
Western European languages
and literatures? Is this a form
of intellectual servitude? Does
the use of such theories,
Gates asks, mar, violate or
corrupt the original black text?
Or is the black text in any way
"pure" at all?
These "ideological shadows"
have stunted black literature for
two hundred years.
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