Step into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471380601 ISBN 13: 9780471380603

Publisher: Wiley, 2000

Synopsis

Step Into A World

"Kevin Powell is pushing to bring, as he has so brilliantly done before, the voices of his generation: the concerns, the cares, the fears, and the fearlessness. Step into a World is a kaleidoscope into the world not bound by artificial constructs like nation. John Coltrane recorded 'Giant Steps,' which is a riff on the sight and sounds in his muse. Powell plays the computer with equal astuteness." -Nikki Giovanni

"Those of us who pay attention were aware that the younger generation of black writers was being smothered by the anointment of talented tenth Divas and Divuses, and their commercial accommodationist 'Fourth Renaissance. 'This anthology is indeed a breakthrough! It combines the boldness and daring of hip-hop with the intellectual keenness of a Michele Wallace or a Clyde Taylor." -Ishmael Reed

"In a culture where videos, the Internet, and other high-tech communication is being consumed like the latest mind-altering drug, how does great literature grow and survive? These writers will answer that all-important question. This anthology provides a clue, a hint, as to where we might be going. They are resisting all this vacant, empty-minded nothingness. Read them. Listen to them. If you don't, you do so at your peril." -Quincy Troupe

About this title

About the Author

KEVIN POWELL is a critically acclaimed poet, journalist, essayist, and public speaker. A former senior writer for Vibe, he has been published in dozens of periodicals, including the Washington Post, Essence, Code, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, George, Ms., and voter.com.

From the Back Cover

Step Into A World

"Kevin Powell is pushing to bring, as he has so brilliantly done before, the voices of his generation: the concerns, the cares, the fears, and the fearlessness. Step into a World is a kaleidoscope into the world not bound by artificial constructs like nation. John Coltrane recorded ‘Giant Steps,’ which is a riff on the sight and sounds in his muse. Powell plays the computer with equal astuteness." –Nikki Giovanni

"Those of us who pay attention were aware that the younger generation of black writers was being smothered by the anointment of talented tenth Divas and Divuses, and their commercial accommodationist ‘Fourth Renaissance. ’This anthology is indeed a breakthrough! It combines the boldness and daring of hip-hop with the intellectual keenness of a Michele Wallace or a Clyde Taylor." –Ishmael Reed

"In a culture where videos, the Internet, and other high-tech communication is being consumed like the latest mind-altering drug, how does great literature grow and survive? These writers will answer that all-important question. This anthology provides a clue, a hint, as to where we might be going. They are resisting all this vacant, empty-minded nothingness. Read them. Listen to them. If you don’t, you do so at your peril." –Quincy Troupe

From the Inside Flap

"Kevin Powell is pushing to bring the voices of his generation: the concerns, the cares, the fears, and the fearlessness." –Nikki Giovanni

From across the globe, here is a historic gathering of some hundred of the greatest black writers of this era. Bringing together emerging literary talent along with established and award-winning writers like Booker Prize—winner Ben Okri, Junot Díaz, Edwidge Danticat, Paul Beatty, Joan Morgan, Sarah Jones, and Hilton Als, Step into a World is a provocative anthology that offers a window into crucial issues of post—Civil Rights and post colonial black life.

Compiled by Kevin Powell (whom famed scholar Michael Eric Dyson called "one of America’s most brilliant young cultural critics"), this extraordinary collection contains a range of fiction, poetry, essays, and criticism–some never before published–along with e-mails, letters, manifestos, and the new genre of hip-hop journalism, here in book form for the first time. Indeed, hip-hop music, culture, and politics permeate Step into a World, as many of the writers have been affected in some way by the biggest pop cultural phenomenon of the past twenty-five years.

Hailing from the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, and Africa, these luminary writers present poignant and powerful thoughts on racial identity, gender oppression, homophobia, classism, Tiger Woods, the black intelligentsia, Oprah’s Book Club, and the Beat Generation, as well as blunt assessments on the crack epidemic, police brutality, postintegration America, and the future state of Africa.

The first major collection of contemporary black writing in nearly a decade, Step into a World includes writers born as early as 1957 and as recently as 1977. The result is an anthology full of energy and stylistic variations, and it is an incredible journey into the richly textured world of the new black literature

Reviews

Poet and journalist Powell (Keepin 'It Real, 1997) is one of the most audible and outspoken advocates of the young black literary voice on the scene today. He has here assembled the essays, fiction, poetry, criticism, and journalism of more than 100 young writers. Although of predictably variable quality, most entries are engaging and provocative, with stand-out work by Malcolm Gladwell ("The Sports Taboo: Why Blacks are Like Boys and Whites are Like Girls"), Daphne Brooks (a critical piece on Oprah's book club), Erin Aubrey (a consideration of Ebonics), Scott Poulson-Bryant (an insightful article on Sean "Puffy" Combs), and the very beautiful and often disturbing fiction of such talents as Junot Diaz, Christopher John Farley, John Keene, Victor D. La Valle, Phylis Alesia Perry, and Bernardine Evaristo. Considering a wide range of subjects (including sexuality, violence, feminism, linguistics, politics, prostitution, music, love, media, and spirituality), these short works are linked only by the racial origins of their authors. Powell's decision to alphabetize entries within categories serves to reiterate this lack of overriding theme and to emphasize the infinite range and flexibility of this, the new world of black writers. A fascinating collection of work from established authors and bold new voices.

Powell concedes the lack of a unifying theme in this eclectic collection of writing from 104 contemporary black writers, famous and obscure, aged 23 to 43, from 9 countries and 3 continents. The collection reflects the slickness of young black wordsmiths, race consciousness, and sensibilities about the artistry of communication via word. The different styles and media-- including a manifesto, a letter, and an e-mail--reflect the diversity of talent among the group of writers, generally lumped together under the heading of black writers. The collection includes Valerie Boyd in a tribute to Alice Walker, Lisa Jones on the magical cure for race relations represented by the self-described Cablinasian Tiger Woods, and Powell on the racial politics of death row. Some other writers represented are Debra Dickerson, Trey Ellis, Edwidge Danticat, Tananarive Due, and Jake Lamar. This book is arranged in six sections: essays, hip-hop journalism, criticism, fiction, poetry, and dialogue. Powell laments the "MTV-ization of The Word Movement" among the young hip-hop writers and rappers but celebrates the enduring artistry and worth of verbal communication among black writers. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471380601
• ISBN 13: 9780471380603
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496
• Editor: Powell Kevin