Committee Chair

Baker, Sybil

Committee Member

Wakefield, Hannah; Einstein, Sarah

Department

Dept. of English

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This thesis contains the first ten chapters of a novel and a craft essay on the dialect of African Americans in literature. Craft is made by culture, and is reflected in creative writing. In the craft essay, I discuss the importance of employing dialect for writing believable characters with depth. Although the subject of dialogue and dialect has been controversial in the craft of writing, Black writers must stay vigilant examining how dialect is used In African American literature, with two ultimate goals; to give voice to community we represent, and to respect the authenticity while accurately recreating it. Most of the stories in my novel are written from the first person point of view in order to represent this community, employing the current rules of writing dialect while sustaining the rhythm and flow of the African American voice, with African Americans as my intended audience.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to all of my professors for the time they invested in my education during my time at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. I would specifically like to thank Professor Sybil Baker for helping me realize that racism in literature wasn’t just my imagination, and for honoring the diverse voices in literature through her course selections. Thank you to Dr. Sarah Einstein for believing in my future and supporting me in my “present”; to Dr. Hannah Wakefield for sharing her love and expertise in Black literature, to Dr. Immaculate Kizza for introducing me to African writers, and to Dr. Thomas Balazs for encouraging me to delight in speculative fiction and to keep imagining what could be in a world of the impossible, waiting to be created.

Degree

M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

Date

5-2021

Subject

African Americans--Fiction; Dialect literature, American; Magic realism (Literature)

Keyword

African American fiction; African American history; dialect; Magical Realism

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

vii, 65 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Date Available

5-31-2022

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