Urban Rage in Bronzeville: Social Commentary in the Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, 1945-1960 (English and English Edition) [Paperback]

B.J. Bolden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0883781956 | ISBN-13: 978-0883781951

An examination of the work of Gwendolyn Brooks with the background of the current socio-political scene in Chicago's Bronzeville in its heyday.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. B. J. Bolden teaches in the department of English at Chicago State University. She worked closely with Gwendolyn Brooks.

Product Details

• Paperback: 235 pages
• Publisher: Third World Press (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883781956
• ISBN-13: 978-0883781951
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,985,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessary critical literary text- a necessary book, May 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Urban Rage in Bronzeville: Social Commentary in the Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, 1945-1960 (English and English Edition) (Paperback)

Urban Rage in Bronzeville is a critical literary text which focuses on how poet Gwendolyn Brooks impacts Arts & Letters in America. Dr. B.J. Bolden's work focuses on the impact of Brooks in the areas of Political Science, Social Science, Literature and Society, US History, City-Town life in Literature, Afro-American Literature and Anger in Literature. Bolden explains the three works in clear historical, racial, political, cultural, and aesthetic terms. The works examined in Bolden's book are: A Street in Bronzeville (1945), Annie Allen (1949), and The Bean Eaters (1960). Bolden looks at all three works with an emphasis on the historical, formal, and feminist contexts. The slave experience and its long range effects on the lives of and values of Blacks in Bronzeville are identified and explained by Bolden. The white-standard system of self hate, despair, poverty, disdain, filth, sickness, and death is contrasted with hope, joy, god, and ideas of good. Bolden uses the works of Cayton, Drake, Myrdal and Williams to set up the social context for a view of Brooks' treatment of Bronzeville. The formal treatment of Brooks by Bolden hits at the core of cultural and aesthetic values. Brooks is considered the master of many elements of the formal poetics. Bolden unlocks these complex poetic forms Brooks uses to develop the epic poem. In the third work, the Bean Eaters (1960), Bolden explicates the poem, "A Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi, Meanwhile a Mother in Mississippi Burns Bacon." This poem about the Emmet Till incident is an example of Brooks' complex poetics because it uses the view of the white female who made the accusation to tell the story and transmit the sense of hate, horror, and death that go with history. Bolden shows that the critics response to Brooks' poem was harsh despite the mastery and complexity of the piece. Bolden's work is immensely important for the cultural, historical, racial implications, and is a critical and necessary book to read. Carnell Littlejohn, M.S. Mathematics, Chicago State University. This is a brief excerpt of a lengthier review given by Mr. Littlejohn.