Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay

Benjamin, Shanna Greene

ISBN 10: 1469662531 / ISBN 13: 9781469662534

Edité par The University of North Carolina Press, 2021

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. N° de réf. du vendeur 00083224922

Synopsis :

Nellie Y. McKay (1930-2006) was a pivotal figure in contemporary American letters. The author of several books, McKay is best known for coediting the canon-making Norton Anthology of African American Literature with Henry Louis Gates Jr., which helped secure a place for the scholarly study of Black writing that had been ignored by white academia. However, there is more to McKay's life and legacy than her literary scholarship. After her passing, new details about McKay's life emerged, surprising everyone who knew her. Why did McKay choose to hide so many details of her past? Shanna Greene Benjamin examines McKay's path through the professoriate to learn about the strategies, sacrifices, and successes of contemporary Black women in the American academy. Benjamin shows that McKay's secrecy was a necessary tactic that a Black, working-class woman had to employ to succeed in the white-dominated space of the American English department. Using extensive archives and personal correspondence, Benjamin brings together McKay's private life and public work to expand how we think about Black literary history and the place of Black women in American culture.

À propos de l'auteur: Shanna Greene Benjamin is an independent scholar living in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of ...
Éditeur : The University of North Carolina Press
Date d'édition : 2021
Reliure : Couverture souple
Etat : Good