The Aesthetics of Negro-American Autobiography

FAIN: FB-10464-70

Russell C. Brignano
Pennsylvania State University, Beaver Campus (Monaca, PA 15061)

Fellow to analyze the aesthetic principles through which common experiences and themes are conveyed in the autobiographic works of Negro-Americans. ABSTRACT: Examination of autobiographies, autobiographic essays, and semi-autobiographical fiction written by Negro-American literary figures. Fellow to first identify the personal experiences, themes, and symbols that these pieces share and then determine the aesthetic concepts and principles through which they have been conveyed in prose literature. Study touches on the question of the existence of a "Black Aesthetic" distinct from the aesthtics of a predominantly white Western culture.