Promotional Information

Winner of a Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award

About the Author

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is Chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies and W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of Figures in Black, Loose Canons, and Colored People; general editor of The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers; and general editor of The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute series.

Reviews

'The appearance of The Signifying Monkey will be one of the most significant events in the development of Afro-American studies in the next decade. Bold, ambitious, original ... An important contributuon, not only to the study of Afro-American literature, but to the whole enterprise of 'literary theory' as it applies to any literature whatsoever. This is a brilliant book, and it deserves to be read widely.' Critical Inquiry 'an important book ... The Signifying Monkey displays an impressive array of scholarship coupled with a wide-ranging knowledge of diverse materials and a visible creative energy which synthesises these into a coherent and convincing thesis. ... an immensely stimulating work which deserves a wide readership.' Reviews in American Studies 'Apart from suggesting new ways of looking at black literature, this original work is a singular contribution to linguistocs, anthropology and rhetoric. Notwithstanding the considerable resources upon which he bases his case, Gates works with a lightness of touch and a style of reasoning that makes the exercise of following the construction of his argument most exciting and provocative.' The Tribune