After the Pain: Critical Essays on Gayl Jones - Paperback

by Carlyle V. Thompson (Other), Fiona Mills (Editor), Keith B. Mitchell (Editor)

As a poet, playwright, novelist, short-story writer, and critic, Gayl Jones has always resisted labels in her quest to find a liberating voice for black women and herself. With a poet's lyricism and a musician's ear for rhythm, she continually seeks new ways to confront the barriers, traumas, insecurities, and prejudices oppressing black women, and, by extension, all women. After the Pain: Critical Essays on Gayl Jones is the first comprehensive collection of essays dedicated solely to the exploration of Jones's work. Ranging from analyses of her use of language and music to reevaluations of her representation of sexuality and gender roles to examinations of the oft-overlooked connections between Latin America and African Americans, each of these essays investigates Jones's desire to continually complicate the process of identity formation.

Author Biography

The Editor: Fiona Mills is Assistant Professor of English and Women's Studies at Curry College. She received her Ph.D. in African American literature and Latino/a literature and theory from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has written several essays in the areas of African American literature, Latino/a literature, Women's studies, and film criticism. She is currently revising a monograph on Afro-Latino/a literature.