2008 Woodie Awards
ISU prof. Norman publishes book on American protest literature
Courtesy of University Relations
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: News
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"We can make America what America must become," wrote the famous Civil Rights-era author James Baldwin in his 1962 essay "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundreth Anniversary of the Emancipation."
This idea of reshaping America so that it lives up to its loftiest ideals is certainly not new. In fact, that has been the topic of protest essays as early as the inception of this country and protest essayists play important roles in nearly all major American social movements. While these documents have long served political and historical purposes, one Idaho State University professor explores how these important documents address, rather than repress, social division in the United States.
Brian Norman, Ph.D., co-director of the ISU Women's Studies Program and assistant professor of English, has written "The American Protest Essay and National Belonging: Addressing Division" to be released Oct. 11.
The book explores the role of the literary protest essay as a means of discussing inequalities and discord in America's social strata. Norman explains that when celebrated novelists and poets want to cash in their literary celebrity for political advocacy, they have often turned to the protest essay tradition. In doing so, they enter an important literary tradition that draws on not only the personal essay genre, but also political oratory and pamphleteering. In addition to Baldwin's essays, Norman's book looks at essays by such essayists as Henry David Thoreau, June Jordan, and Adrienne Rich, as well as writing an oratory from political spokespersons, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Emma Goldman.
Norman is one of a handful of American protest literature scholars in the United States, and his book is the first of its kind treating protest essays in particular as a distinct literary form.
"Scholars and readers have long recognized the political importance of these essays, and I'm hoping this book will also show they belong in a distinct literary tradition," Norman said. He feels these writings represent "key debates about American identity, national ideals of equality, and exclusion from those promises" and belong in their own genre.
This idea of reshaping America so that it lives up to its loftiest ideals is certainly not new. In fact, that has been the topic of protest essays as early as the inception of this country and protest essayists play important roles in nearly all major American social movements. While these documents have long served political and historical purposes, one Idaho State University professor explores how these important documents address, rather than repress, social division in the United States.
Brian Norman, Ph.D., co-director of the ISU Women's Studies Program and assistant professor of English, has written "The American Protest Essay and National Belonging: Addressing Division" to be released Oct. 11.
The book explores the role of the literary protest essay as a means of discussing inequalities and discord in America's social strata. Norman explains that when celebrated novelists and poets want to cash in their literary celebrity for political advocacy, they have often turned to the protest essay tradition. In doing so, they enter an important literary tradition that draws on not only the personal essay genre, but also political oratory and pamphleteering. In addition to Baldwin's essays, Norman's book looks at essays by such essayists as Henry David Thoreau, June Jordan, and Adrienne Rich, as well as writing an oratory from political spokespersons, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Emma Goldman.
Norman is one of a handful of American protest literature scholars in the United States, and his book is the first of its kind treating protest essays in particular as a distinct literary form.
"Scholars and readers have long recognized the political importance of these essays, and I'm hoping this book will also show they belong in a distinct literary tradition," Norman said. He feels these writings represent "key debates about American identity, national ideals of equality, and exclusion from those promises" and belong in their own genre.
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