Abstract
How did creative genius develop in tandem with the criminalization of Blackness in the early United States?
In _Criminal Genius in African American and US Literature, 1793–1845_, Erin Forbes uncovers a model of racialized, collective agency in American literature and culture. Identifying creative genius in the figure of the convict, the zombie, the outlaw, the insurgent, and the fugitive, Forbes deepens our understanding of the historical relationship between criminality and Blackness and reestablishes the importance of the aesthetic in early African American literature.
In _Criminal Genius in African American and US Literature, 1793–1845_, Erin Forbes uncovers a model of racialized, collective agency in American literature and culture. Identifying creative genius in the figure of the convict, the zombie, the outlaw, the insurgent, and the fugitive, Forbes deepens our understanding of the historical relationship between criminality and Blackness and reestablishes the importance of the aesthetic in early African American literature.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Number of pages | 248 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781421443768 |
| Publication status | Published - 6 Feb 2024 |
Keywords
- Crime Writing
- Black Aesthetics
- Long 19th-century US Literature
- African American literature
- Race
- Revolt
- Humanism
- new materialism
- Posthumanism
