Books by John Oliver Killens

 Youngblood  /  And Then We Heard the Thunder  /  The Cotillion  /  The Great Black Russian

A Man-Aint-Nothin But A Man Adventures of John Henry  /  Slaves  / Sippi A Novel /  Black-SouthernVoices: An Anthology 

Great-Gittin-Up-Morning: A Biography of Denmark Vesey

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Reviews

No serious history of the development of the African American novel from the 1950s onward can be written without reference to John Oliver Killens. A two-time nominee for the Pulitzer prize and founding chairman of the legendary Harlem Writers Guild, Killens was regarded by many as a spiritual father who inspired a generation of African American novelists with his politically charged works. And yet today he rarely receives proper critical attention. Seeking to strengthen our understanding of this important literary figure, Keith Gilyard departs from standard critical framework to reveal Killen's novels as artful renderings of rich African American rhetorical forms and verbal traditions.

Gilyard finds that many critics, adhering to ideals of art for art's sake or narrative conciseness, are ill-equipped to appreciate the many ways in which Killen's fiction succeeds. rejecting the 'pre art" position, Killens sought to articulate Black heroism particularly within a family or community context, offering a set of values he deemed liberatory. he focused on rendering noble and polemical characters, and his work represents a distinguished fusion of sociopolitical persuasion (rhetoric) and literary artifact (poetics).

To help illumine such novels as Youngblood (1954), And Then We Heard the Thunder (1962), and The Cotillion (1971), Gilyard examines Killens' work as an essayist and cultural organizer, highlighting his activism. His life and literary production can be partly characterized, Gilyard suggests, by the African American jeremiad--a major rhetorical form in the Black intellectual tradition expressing faith that America's destiny is to become an authentic, pluralistic democracy.

--Wayne State University Press 

This first book-length study of John Oliver Killens aims to help secure his place in literary history and explores his creation of an inspiring Black vernacular art - one that ennobles people of African descent and urges their political liberation.

No serious history of the development of the African American novel from the 1950s onward can be written without reference to John Oliver Killens. A two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and founding chairman of the legendary Harlem Writers Guild, Killens was regarded by many as a spiritual father who inspired a generation of African American novelists with his politically charged works. Seeking to strengthen our understanding of this important literary figure, Keith Gilyard departs from standard critical frameworks to reveal Killens's novels as artful renderings of rich African American rhetorical forms and verbal traditions. Rejecting the "pure art" position, Killens sought to articulate Black heroism particularly within a family or community context, offering a set of values he deemed liberatory. He focused on rendering noble and polemical characters, and his work represents a distinguished fusion of sociopolitical persuasion (rhetoric) and literary artifact (poetics).

Reviews

This excellent and long overdue introduction to the work of an important writer and literary activist allows us to carefully reevaluate John Oliver Killens's place in the history of postwar American and African American literature. Keith Gilyard's thoughtful and informed study is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the vibrant, controversial-and often deliberately misinterpreted-Black Arts Movement."
—Lorenzo Thomas, University of Houston-Downtown

Gilyard's holistic approach to Killen's--as novelist, essayist, teacher, sociopolitical activist and organizer of literary conferences--posits him as heir to the likes of Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois, for the latter's insistence on the compatibility of aesthetics and propaganda in particular. Gilyard underscores the literary distinction and integrity Killens achieves through a deft, at times unique adaptation of African American vernacular art forms and modes of expression to the aesthetic uses of his fiction.

--Alvin Aubert, Wayne State University

A masterwork by a master scholar. An important reappraisal of John Oliver Killens, a literary visionary whose influence on African American letters is both unprecedented and unsung. In Liberation Memories, Keith Gilyard has produced a visionary work worthy of its subject.

--Arthur Flowers, Syracuse University

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updated 12 June 2008

Keith Gilyard -- born and raised in New York City -- earned graduate degrees from Columbia University and NYU. Following stints at several campuses, including Medgar Evers College-CUNY and Syracuse University, he is Professor of English at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Gilyard has long been active in professional, cultural, and community organization, and he has lectured widely on language, literature, and education. He also has read his poetry at numerous venues. 

Author of numerous publications, his books include Voices of the Self: A Study of Language Competence (1991), Let's Flip the Script: An African American Discourse on Language, Literature, and Learning (1996) Poemographics (2001), and Liberation Memories: The Rhetoric and Poetics of John Oliver Killens (2003).

 In addition, he edited Spirit & Flame: An Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry (1997) and Race, Rhetoric, and Composition (1999).