What connects Langston Hughes to Hong Kong, Malcolm X to Mecca, and Syrian merchants to the 9/11 memorial? In this episode, English professor Wai Chee Dimock shows us how to read quintessentially American writers from an international perspective. From this angle, major American concerns like race and money start to look a little different.
Works mentioned
– Langston Hughes, “Something in Common”
– Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
– Teju Cole, Open City
Further reading
Website for American Literature in the World
Franco Moretti at New Left Review – Conjectures on World Literature
Teju Cole at The New York Times Magazine – Getting Others Right
Lemn Sissay at The Guardian – Malcolm X’s autobiography didn’t change me, it saved me
David Chioni Moore at Steppe – Langston Hughes in Central Asia
Marketus Presswood at The Atlantic – On Being Black in China