Mythic Black Fiction: The Transformation of History

Campbell examines Black literature as it seeks to reverse and supplant the various dehumanizing myths promulgated by White American culture. Analyzing fourteen literary works written over more than a century, Campbell shows that this fiction permits Black authors to act as revisionist historians, offering a transcendent view of the future through an exploration of the past.

In searching for rhetorical devices, according to Campbell, Black writers often draw on elements of myth that by defi...