Discrepant Engagement addresses work by a number of authors not normally grouped under a common rubric - black writers from the United States and the Caribbean and the so-called Black Mountain poets. Nathaniel Mackey examines the ways in which the experimental aspects of their work advance a critique of the assumptions underlying conventional perceptions and practice. Arguing that the work of these writers engages the discrepancy between presumed norms and qualities of experience such norms fail to accommodate, Mackey highlights their valorization of dissonance, divergence and formal disruption. He advances a cross-cultural mix that is uncommon in studies of experimental writing, frequently bringing the works and ideas of the authors it addresses into dialogue and juxtaposition with one another, insisting that parallels, counterpoint and relevance to one another exist among writers otherwise separated by ethnic and regional boundaries.
| ISBN: | 9780521444538 |
| Publication date: | 24th September 1993 |
| Author: | Nathaniel (University of California, Santa Cruz) Mackey |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 326 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000 Cultural studies Ethnic studies |