Tipping on a Tightrope
Divas in African American Literature
©2012
Monographs
X,
142 Pages
Series:
African-American Literature and Culture, Volume 19
Summary
When Black runway models began throwing phones and VH1’s «Divas Live» riveted viewers, a new paradigm for Black women had fully evolved in the form of the Black Diva. Tracing the trajectory of the Diva figure from the Italian castrati to Ntozake Shange’s Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter suggests a way around staid and fixed stereotypes about Black womanhood. The Black Diva performs her demands as a quintessential act of survival in a hostile and racist world; she is both a product of and a mark against the male gaze, Black and white. Ultimately, Tipping on a Tightrope: Divas in African American Literature uses present popular culture incarnations of the Diva to detail her long relationship with Black American literary culture.
Details
- Pages
- X, 142
- Publication Year
- 2012
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433105753
- Language
- English
- Keywords
- Black runway models Black Diva Italian Castrati Ntozake Shange Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter
- Published
- New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2012. XII, 147 pp.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG