Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Edward P. Jones’s Homegrown Characters

By Kenton Rambsy

Chapter five of my book The Geographies of African American Short Stories “Up South: Geo-Tagging DC and Edward P. Jones’s Homegrown Characters,” demonstrates how Jones preserves and extends the tradition of African American short fiction.

Despite the long history and dense population of Washington, DC, the predominantly Black quadrants of the District have a relatively small presence in the scholarship on African American literature. Jones depicts homegrown characters with acute knowledge about the geographies of the city.

Accordingly, his stories offer intricate portrayals of streets, intersections, apartment buildings, walking and driving routes, neighborhoods, city landmarks, and quadrants in the nation’s capital. His meticulous city narratives constitute an outstanding achievement in the production of African American short stories and warrant critical attention.

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This entry is part of a series--A Notebook on The Geographies of African American Short Stories.

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