Dec 23, 2009

The Souls of Black Folk | Style

Form
The collection consists of fourteen chapters, an introduction, and an afterward. With one exception, each of the chapters (an essay or story) opens with a quotation of verse from a famous source in the Western literary canon followed by lines of music from African-American oral tradition. The result is a frame for each essay, both from the recognized cultural establishment and from the unrecognized, yet widely-known tradition of slave songs and spirituals. The effect is an impression of support, both from within the black community and from without, and...