In search of Afro-American identity: Zora Neale Hurston and race politics of the Harlem renaissance

Abstract

Tato diplomova prace ne se nazev ,,Hledani afroamericke identity: Zora Neale Hurstonova a rasova politika Harlemske renesance". Cilem prace je prozkoumat Harlemskou renesanci nejen jakozto umelecke hnuti, ale rovnez jakozto socio-politickJ fenomen v moderni historii Spojenych statu. Jednou z ustrednich postav tohoto hnuti byla spisovatelka a antropolozka Zora Neale Hurstonova. Ve stredu meho zajmu je zhodnoceni umeleckeho pnnosu Hurstonove pro konstituovani afroamericke identity, zejmena jejiho usili zachytit bohaty cernossky folklor. Cilem prace je rovnez prozkoumat Hurstonove pojeti rasy v ramci kulturniho relativismu a zhohlednit je ve vztahu k dalsim harlemskym autorum, zejmena Langstonu Hughesovi. V uvodu jsem se pokusila zasadit Harlemskou renesanci do historickeho kontextu, tzn. pochopit pnCiny a podminky jejiho vzniku, a uchopit a pojmenovat ideologii tohoto hnuti a jeho prinos pro dalSi smerovani cernosske kultury ve Spojenych statech. V prvni kapitole prace jsem stanovila cil prace a jeji celkove smerovani. Cele tema jsem se rozhodla uchopit v literarne - historicke perspektive s pfihlednutim na vybrane perspektivy literarni teorie (viz. Gates) a moderni americke antropologie. VytyCila jsem material potrebny k prozkoumani tematu a k podpore vlastnich argumentu. Zakladnim literarnim pramenem pro...

The aim of this thesis is to explore the phenomenon of the Harlem Renaissance as not only an artistic but also a socio-political movement in American history. I shall try to trace its historical conditions, its ideology and accomplishments. Introducing its main intellectualleaders--scholars as well as men of belles-Iettres, I will take an insight into the ambience of cultural events and discussions that they created and comment on the diversity of attitudes toward the role of the African American in American society that they launched. Among the most prominent and influential intellectuals who fathered the Movement were Alain LeRoy Locke, W. E. B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson and Charles S. Johnson. The second target of this thesis is to examine one of the outstanding literary voices of this period. Out of the many artists who began their career during the Harlem Renaissance-and one should name at least Langston Hughes, Countee Cull en, Claude McKay and Jean Toomer--I chose the personality of Zora Neale Hurston as a representative of the unconventional black female artist of this time. In my focus were Hurston' s artistic aims to ground the Black identity as opposed, and sometimes even parallel, to some of her contemporaries. Hurston' s former friend, later a rival, Langston Hughes would probably be her...