Jeffrey B. Leak's Books

Visible Man

The Life of Henry Dumas

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

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Visible Man

The Life of Henry Dumas

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

Henry Dumas (1934–1968) was a writer who did not live to see most of his fiction and poetry in print. A son of Sweet Home, Arkansas, and Harlem, he devoted himself to the creation of a black literary cosmos, one in which black literature and culture were windows into the human condition. While he certainly should be understood in the context of the cultural and political movements of the 1960s—Black Arts, Black Power, and Civil Rights—his writing, and ultimately his life, were filled with ambiguities and contradictions. Dumas was shot and killed in 1968 in Harlem months before his thirty-fourth birthday by a white transit policeman under circumstances never fully explained. After his death he became a kind of literary legend, but one whose full story was unknown. A devoted cadre of friends and later admirers from the 1970s to the present pushed for the publication of his work. Toni Morrison championed him as “an absolute genius.” Amiri Baraka, a writer not quick to praise others, claimed that Dumas produced “actual art, real, man, and stunning.” Eugene Redmond and Quincy Troupe heralded Dumas's poetry, short stories, and work as an editor of “little” magazines. With Visible Man, Jeffrey B. Leak offers a full examination of both Dumas's life and his creative development. Given unprecedented access to the Dumas archival materials and numerous interviews with family, friends, and writers who knew him in various contexts, Leak opens the door to Dumas's rich and at times frustrating life, giving us a layered portrait of an African American writer and his coming of age during one of the most volatile and transformative decades in American history.

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224

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820347108

ISBN 13

9780820347103

Do Real Men Pray?

Images of the Christian Man and Male Spirituality in White Protestant America

By: Charles H. Lippy,Jeffrey B. Leak

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Do Real Men Pray?

Images of the Christian Man and Male Spirituality in White Protestant America

By: Charles H. Lippy,Jeffrey B. Leak

White male spirituality and the Christian man -- The dutiful patriarch -- The gentleman entrepreneur -- The courageous adventurer -- The efficient businessman -- The positive thinker -- The faithful leader -- Male spirituality in white Protestant America.

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308

Publisher

Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1572333588

ISBN 13

9781572333581

Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

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Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

The portrayal of black men in our national literature is controversial, complex, and often contradictory."In Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature, Jeffrey B. Leak identifies some of the long-held myths and stereotypes that persist in the work of black writers from the nineteenth century to the present--intellectual inferiority, criminality, sexual prowess, homosexual emasculation, and cultural deprivation. Utilizing Robert B. Stepto's call-and-response theory, Leak studies four pairs of novels within the context of certain myths, identifying the literary tandems between them and seeking to discover the source of our culture's psychological preoccupation with black men. Calling upon interdisciplinary fields of study--literary theory, psychoanalysis, gender studies, legal theory, and queer theory--Leak offers ground breaking analysis of both canonical texts (representing the "call" of the call-and-response dyad) and texts by emerging writers (representing the "response"), including Frederick Douglass and Charles Johnson: Ralph Ellison and Brent Wade; Richard Wright and Ernest J. Gaines; and Toni Morrison and David Bradley. Though Leak does not claim that the "response" tests are superior to the "call' texts, he does argue that, in some cases, the newer work--such as charles Johnson's "Oxherding Tale--can address a theme or offer a narrative innovation not found in preceding texts, such as "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas. In these instances, argues Leak, the newer texts constitute not only a response to the call text, but a substantial revision. Leak offers the first in-depth criticism of black masculinity in a range of literary texts. In a final chapter, he expands his discussion to the emerging field of black masculinity studies, pointing to future directions for study, including memoir, film, drama, and others. Poised on the brink of exciting new trends in scholarship, "Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature is flagship work, enhancing the understanding of literary constructions of black masculinity and the larger cultural imperatives to which these writers are reacting.

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184

Publisher

Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

157233357X

ISBN 13

9781572333574

Noah's Arkive

By: Jeffrey J. Cohen,Julian Yates

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Noah's Arkive

By: Jeffrey J. Cohen,Julian Yates

A timely rethinking of the archetypal story of Noah, the great flood, and who was left behind as the waters rose Most people know the story of Noah from a children’s bible or a play set with a colorful ship, bearded Noah, pairs of animals, and an uncomplicated vision of survival. Noah’s ark, however, will forever be haunted by what it leaves to the rising waters so that the world can begin again. In Noah’s Arkive, Jeffrey J. Cohen and Julian Yates examine the long history of imagining endurance against climate catastrophe—as well as alternative ways of creating refuge. They trace how the elements of the flood narrative were elaborated in medieval and early modern art, text, and music, and now shape writing and thinking during the current age of anthropogenic climate change. Arguing that the biblical ark may well be the worst possible exemplar of human behavior, the chapters draw on a range of sources, from the Epic of Gilgamesh and Ovid’s tale of Deucalion and Pyrrah, to speculative fiction, climate fiction, and stories and art dwelling with environmental catastrophe. Noah’s Arkive uncovers the startling afterlife of the Genesis narrative written from the perspective of Noah’s wife and family, the animals on the ark, and those excluded and so left behind to die. This book of recovered stories speaks eloquently to the ethical and political burdens of living through the Anthropocene. Following a climate change narrative across the millennia, Noah’s Arkive surveys the long history of dwelling with the consequences of choosing only a few to survive in order to start the world over. It is an intriguing meditation on how the story of the ark can frame how we think about environmental catastrophe and refuge, conservation and exclusion, offering hope for a better future by heeding what we know from the past.

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Page Count

432

Publisher

U of Minnesota Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1452969345

ISBN 13

9781452969343

Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

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Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

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184

Publisher

Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

157233357X

ISBN 13

9781572333574

Visible Man

The Life of Henry Dumas

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

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Visible Man

The Life of Henry Dumas

By: Jeffrey B. Leak

The long-awaited biography of an unsung literary legend who informed the major 1960s cultural and political movements: Black Arts, Black Power, and Civil Rights. Leak offers a full examination of both Dumas's life and his creative development.

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Page Count

220

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820328707

ISBN 13

9780820328706

Book's by Jeffrey B. Leak

Visible Man

Visible Man

Do Real Men Pray?

Do Real Men Pray?

Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

Noah's Arkive

Noah's Arkive

Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature

Visible Man

Visible Man

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