Double-consciousness/double bind

In this provocative study of major twentieth century African-American writers and critics, Sandra Adell takes an unprecedented look at the relationship between black literature and criticism and the complex ensemble of Western literature, criticism, and philosophy. Adell's investigation begins with an analysis of the metaphysical foundations of W. E. B. Du Bois's famous formulation of double-consciousness and how black writing bears the traces of such European philosophers as Kant, Hegel, and Marx. She then examines, in the double context of black literature and European philosophy, the…