Book contents
- African American Literature in Transition, 1920–1930
- African American Literature in Transition
- African American Literature in Transition, 1920–1930
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Historical Events, People, and Publications, 1920–1930
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Habitus, Sound, Fashion
- Part II Space
- Part III Uplift Renewed
- Chapter 8 “The sinful babel of the airshaft”
- Chapter 9 Marcus Garvey
- Chapter 10 Progression or Regression of the Black Race?
- Part IV Serial Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 8 - “The sinful babel of the airshaft”
Rudolph Fisher’s Fiction and Religion, Urban Space, and Modernity in the Harlem Renaissance
from Part III - Uplift Renewed
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2022
- African American Literature in Transition, 1920–1930
- African American Literature in Transition
- African American Literature in Transition, 1920–1930
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology of Historical Events, People, and Publications, 1920–1930
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Habitus, Sound, Fashion
- Part II Space
- Part III Uplift Renewed
- Chapter 8 “The sinful babel of the airshaft”
- Chapter 9 Marcus Garvey
- Chapter 10 Progression or Regression of the Black Race?
- Part IV Serial Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter argues that previous discussions of Harlem Renaissance literature have overlooked the role of religion in shaping ideas of Black modernity. Examining the literature and art of the 1920s, Farebrother posits that religion plays a key role in shaping Black modernity, serving as the means through which Rudolph Fisher can explore anxieties about generational conflict, gender, sexuality, tradition, consumerism, and the Great Migration. Not only are there a large number of Black modernist texts that include religious scenes, but also these texts reveal the relationship between religion and entertainment, church and cabaret. Spatially, scenes of the cabaret and the church are depicted in similar ways, and the role of the spectator is significant in both church and cabaret scenes – someone who can observe the scenes and remark upon unusual elements.
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- African American Literature in Transition, 1920–1930 , pp. 205 - 231Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022