Modernist Africana Poetry of the Americas

Focus on origins of Modernism among Africana authors of the Americas, with emphasis on the poetry, poetics and poetry movements of Brazil and Latin America, the Caribbean and US from 1888 through the first half of the 20th century. Begins with an overview of innovations wrought by Rubén Dario of Nicaragua, arguably the first modernist poet, and continues with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1910's and 20's; the Brazilian writers at the center of the Week of Modern Art of 1922; Caribbean writers of the Negrismo and Négritude movements; concludes with the work of such US and Anglophone Caribbean poets as Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden and Martin Carter. Enrollment limited to 20.