| Wrestling Angels into Song: The Fictions of Ernest J. Gaines and James Alan McPherson Subjects: Gaines Ernest J. 1933- -- Criticism and interpretation; McPherson James Alan 1943- -- Criticism and interpretation; American fiction -- Afro-American authors -- History and criticism; American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Afro-Ame; Herman Beavers offers a richly nuanced study of Ernes J. Gaines, James Alan McPherson, and Ralph Ellison as writers who have found ways to invest circumstances that might otherwise be seen as sites of squalor or despair with a sense of cultural vitality. He examines the Ellisonian themes and motifs the two later writers take up in their fiction, and looks at Ellison's influence on the strategies they enact to construct themselves as American writers. Herman Beavers is Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. |