Psychoanalytic theory is one of the most important tools in contemporary literary criticism, and this text argues that psychoanalytic paradigms can produce rich readings of African-American desire, alienation and subjectivity. It examines figures such as Freud and Lacan.

Claudia Tate argues that psychoanalytic paradigms can produce rich readings of African American desire, alienation, and subjectivity. Her provocative new book, aimed at scholars and students in African American studies, serves as an introduction to psychoanalytic theory and its applications for African American literature and culture. Tate summarizes the work of figures such as Freud and Lacan, with references to their contemporary literary proponents, and examine a series of texts by Emma Kelley, W.E.B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, Zora Heale Hurston, and Nella Larsen.

...intriguing....Tate's study raises crucial questions about the way African American subjectivity is addressed within literary studies....she inspires a reevaluation of how texts produce that black subjectivity.