Reader -- ep. by Howard Rambsy II

A brief take on 30 essential African American novels, from Toni Morrison to Colson Whitehead, as an entry point to a rich literary tradition and the journeys ahead.

Script by Howard Rambsy II
Read by Kassandra Timm

Transcript

You’re listening to Remarkable Receptions — a podcast about popular and critical responses to African American novels and more.

Read Toni Morrison’s core four: The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. Then, read the novel she viewed as her best, Jazz.

Study James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Nella Larsen’s Passing. 

Richard Wright’s Native Son? Check.
Ann Petry’s The Street? Check
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man? Check
James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain? Check.

Cover neo-slave narratives: Margaret Walker’s Jubilee, Ishmale Reed’s Flight to Canada, Octavia Butler’s Kindred, Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Edward P. Jones’s The Known World, Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad.  Percival Everett’s James.

Speaking of Whitehead, check out his debut, The Intuitionist, and check out his novels The Nickel Boys, Zone One, Harlem Shuffle, and Crook Manifesto. 

The Color Purple and Meridian by Alice Walker? Check.
The White Boy Shuttle and The Sellout by Paul Beatty? Check.
Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward? Check. 

After you’ve familiarized yourself with the aforementioned 30 novels, take a deep breath, you’ve become acquainted with aspects of a wonderful literary tradition. Now prepare yourself for the next 30, the next 30, the next 30. The journeys ahead.

***********************
This episode, inspired by Jamacia Kincaid’s “Girl” was written by Howard Rambsy. The episode was edited by Elizabeth Cali. 

******************************************
This podcast, Remarkable Receptions, is part of the Black Literature Network, a joint project from African American literary studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and the History of Black Writing at the University of Kansas. The project was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.  For more information, visit blacklitnetwork.org.