John Keene's Counternarratives: An Act of Narrative Power

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the contemporary African-American author John Keene's collection of short stories "Counternarratives". among the many themes keene's represents, this dissertation focuses on the issues of personal/group identity, self determination, and personal freedom and how these issues are shaped by the concept of "Narrative". Following the author's division of the book into three sections, I analyze the two interrelated concepts of Counternarratives, and Encounternarratives. The analysis mostly rely on the theoretical works of the American psychologist Jerome Bruner on the nature of Narratives and their role in the narration of the self (Autobiography).

By reflectiong on the fundamental dichotomy between Personal history and Official history at the center of many of these narrations, the analyses show Keene's tackling important themes such as self-affirmation, authority, and emancipation: each depends on crucial acts of authoriality.

The concept of "Emancipation", specifically, is analyzed in its meta-narrative implications: the emancipation of "Black Literature" from the classic canons of literary genres which are still too embedded in their European standards; I call this generic emancipation "Decolonization of Literature". I employed Bruner's ideas on Narratives and their construction, and Henry Louis gates Jr's considerations on Blak Literature as a support to this particular aspect of my project.