Henderson perhaps best sums up the contributions by this group of contemporary writers when she asserts, "This new `renaissance' of Black writers does not necessarily have to fight the bugaboos of earlier generations. During the 1920s, writers sought an `authentic' cultural voice; during the 1960s and 70s, writers sought artistically to expose the link between the dominant ideology and the values we attach to literature. Although each generation has had its discontents, it would seem that Black writers in the 1990s are staking out new ground.
"They have not only found their voices, but they are asserting those voices into a national, and indeed international, conversation. Their writing demonstrates that they are acutely aware of literature and its engagement in a broader cultural and political arena. It is this struggle in the contested terrain of cultural value and cultural authority that now engages Black writers."
But Mosley, pressing his case for self-reliant structures, told colleagues at the writers' conference a different story. While Black writers have ventured into every genre, he said, and have "taken over," and while it seems as though they have "arrived," in fact, "they have not. What happened to the first renaissance?" he asked. "What happened to all the writers of the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s. Where are they today, and where are their books?"
Most people cannot answer that question, he said, and when they do, "it's sad," because most of the early writers who are alive are selling their books on street corners.
COPYRIGHT 1996 Cox, Matthews & Associates
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