Arguing that African-American writers have always been implicitly conscious of having two audiences (a black audience and the dominant white culture) judging them and their works, Boan (Belmont
U.) examines the effect of W.E.B. Du Bois’s ＂double consciousness＂ on African-American authors and argues against seeing an Afro-American ＂essentialism＂ in understanding their works. He rejects
the monolithic view of African-American literature that he believes develops from the essentialist position, attempting to categorize the works by the authors’ levels of transcendent relational
depth with the audience. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
