Journal | Il Tolomeo
Journal issue | 18 | 2016
Research Article | W.E.B. Du Bois’s Proto-Afrofuturist Short Fiction: «The Comet»
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Proto-Afrofuturist Short Fiction: «The Comet»
- Adriano Elia - Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italia - email
Abstract
This article examines W.E.B. Du Bois’s short story «The Comet» in the light of the Afrofuturist movement, a transnational and interdisciplinary, theoretical and literary-cultural enterprise that has endeavoured to rethink the history of Black civilisation in order to imagine a different, better, future. A remarkable example of post-apocalyptic, speculative and proto-Afrofuturist short fiction, «The Comet» functions as a fictional counterpart of the influential key concepts – double consciousness, the color line and the veil – previously introduced by Du Bois and it also foreshadows further critical issues and tropes that would be developed later, namely Fanon’s psychology of racism and Ellison’s metaphor of invisibility. Moreover, as a proto-Afrofuturist work of fiction, the story prefigures the post-apocalyptic worlds of Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler and becomes a parable in which the supernatural element of the toxic comet allows for interesting speculations on the alienation experienced by people of African descent.
Submitted: Sept. 22, 2016 | Accepted: Oct. 22, 2016 | Published Dec. 19, 2016 | Language: en
Keywords W • B • Afrofuturism • The Colour Line • E • «The Comet» • Du Bois • Double Consciousness • The Veil
Copyright © 2016 Adriano Elia. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2499-5975/Tol-18-16-12
Testi Creativi | Creative Works | Créations
- Arnold Zable
- Shaul Bassi
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Refugium
- Arnold Zable
- Dec. 19, 2016
Articoli | Articles | Articles
- Louis-Philippe Dalembert, «vagabond jusqu’au bout de la fatigue»
- Alessia Vignoli
- Dec. 19, 2016
- La société haïtienne dans le recueil Le Roman de Bouqui de Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain (analyse morphologique et sémiotique)
- Sara Del Rossi
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
A Struggle Between Literary and Self-Cannibalisation
The Brontës’ Reversal in V.S. Naipaul’s Guerrillas - Alessia Polatti
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
Exploring the Ethnographic Encounter
An Anthropological Approach to World Literature in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide - Lucio De Capitani
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
Ritta parmi les bombes et Parler étrangement
Les nouvelles possibilités du poème explorées par Ritta Baddoura - Francesca Tumia
- Dec. 19, 2016
- L'épistolaire au temps du virtuel ou le non-lieu des émiles amoureux
- Jean-François Plamondon
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
Tradurre la bande dessinée migrante
Il caso de Les Mohamed di Jérôme Ruillier - Ilaria Vitali
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
Forefronting Welsh through English
Translating and Translanguaging in Alys Conran’s Pigeon - David Newbold
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Postcolonial Trauma in William Trevor’s Anglo-Irish Big House Trilogy
- Angelo Monaco
- Dec. 19, 2016
- W.E.B. Du Bois’s Proto-Afrofuturist Short Fiction: «The Comet»
- Adriano Elia
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
Voci per la biografia di un paese
La narrativa polifonica di Yvonne Vera e la storia dello Zimbabwe - Francesca Romana Paci
- Dec. 19, 2016
Interviste | Interviews | Interview
-
L’humour est la meilleure arme pour transmettre un message
Entretien avec les bédéistes Mayada et Maïssa Gargouri - Ilaria Vitali
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Interview with Josip Novakovich
- Sara Moschin
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Teju Cole, Punto d’Ombra
- Francesca Giommi
- Dec. 19, 2016
Recensioni | Reviews | Comptes rendus
-
Una lezione di ‘Digital Humanities’
Teju Cole e Amitava Kumar - Carmen Concilio
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Sanchez, M.G. (2015). Jonathan Gallardo. Hungtingdon: Rock Scorpion Books, pp. 334
- Esterino Adami
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Bhagat, Chetan (2015). Making India Awesome. New Delhi: Rupa, pp. 177
- Esterino Adami
- Dec. 19, 2016
- «Littérature mauritanienne de langue française» (2014). Textes réunis et présentés par M’Bouh Seta Diagana et Mamadou Kalidou Bâ. Interculturel Francophonies, 26, novembre-décembre, pp. 302
- Anna Michieletto
- Dec. 19, 2016
- «Bars, cafés, buvettes» (2015). Ponti/Ponts. Langues, littératures et civilisations des pays francophones, 15, pp. 24
- Alessia Vignoli
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Chemla, Yves (2015). Littérature haïtienne 1980-2015. Delmas: C3 Éditions, pp. 314
- Alessia Vignoli
- Dec. 19, 2016
- «Trois Femmes puissantes de Marie NDiaye». Textes recueillis par Éric Lysøe et Anna Soncini Fratta. Città di Castello: I libri di EMIL, pp. 224. Analyses Textuelles 6
- Sara Del Rossi
- Dec. 19, 2016
- «Poésies érotiques d’Évariste Parny» (2015). Textes recueillis par Éric Lysøe et Anna Soncini Fratta. Città di Castello: I libri di EMIL, pp. 160. Analyses Textuelles 5
- Sara Del Rossi
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Fortier, Alcée (2011). Louisiana Folktales, Lapin, Bouki, and Other Creole Stories in French Dialect and English Translation. Lafayette: University of Louisiana Press, pp. 203
- Veronica Brunetto
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Vitale, Marina (a cura di) (2015). «L’interruzione estetica. Stuart Hall e il paradigma degli Studi Culturali». estetica. studi e ricerche, 1, pp. 5-110
- Eleonora Meo
- Dec. 19, 2016
-
Indian Graphic Novels
Towards Decoding India - Prachi Agarwal
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Bishop, Jaqueline (2015). The Gymnast and Other Positions. Leeds: Peepal Tree Press Ltd, pp. 201
- Michela A. Calderaro
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Sekou, Lasana M. (2016). Book of the Dead. Philipsburg St. Martin: House of Nehesi Publishers, pp. 68
- Michela A. Calderaro
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Leach, Sharon (2014). Love It When You Come, Hate It When You Go. Leeds: Peepal Tree Press Ltd, pp. 200
- Michela A. Calderaro
- Dec. 19, 2016
- Ferraro, Alessandra (2014). Écriture migrante et translinguisme au Québec. Venezia: La Toletta Edizioni, pp. 155
- Francesca Todesco
- Dec. 19, 2016
| DC Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
dc.identifier |
ECF_article_621 |
|
dc.title |
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Proto-Afrofuturist Short Fiction: «The Comet» |
|
dc.contributor.author |
Elia Adriano |
|
dc.publisher |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing |
|
dc.type |
Research Article |
|
dc.language.iso |
en |
|
dc.identifier.uri |
http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/il-tolomeo/2016/1/web-du-boiss-proto-afrofuturist-short-fiction-the/ |
|
dc.description.abstract |
This article examines W.E.B. Du Bois’s short story «The Comet» in the light of the Afrofuturist movement, a transnational and interdisciplinary, theoretical and literary-cultural enterprise that has endeavoured to rethink the history of Black civilisation in order to imagine a different, better, future. A remarkable example of post-apocalyptic, speculative and proto-Afrofuturist short fiction, «The Comet» functions as a fictional counterpart of the influential key concepts – double consciousness, the color line and the veil – previously introduced by Du Bois and it also foreshadows further critical issues and tropes that would be developed later, namely Fanon’s psychology of racism and Ellison’s metaphor of invisibility. Moreover, as a proto-Afrofuturist work of fiction, the story prefigures the post-apocalyptic worlds of Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler and becomes a parable in which the supernatural element of the toxic comet allows for interesting speculations on the alienation experienced by people of African descent. |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Il Tolomeo |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Vol. 18 | December 2016 |
|
dc.issued |
2016-12-19 |
|
dc.dateAccepted |
2016-10-22 |
|
dc.dateSubmitted |
2016-09-22 |
|
dc.identifier.issn |
|
|
dc.identifier.eissn |
2499-5975 |
|
dc.rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License |
|
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
|
dc.identifier.doi |
10.14277/2499-5975/Tol-18-16-12 |
|
dc.peer-review |
yes |
|
dc.subject |
Afrofuturism |
|
dc.subject |
Afrofuturism |
|
dc.subject |
B |
|
dc.subject |
B |
|
dc.subject |
Double Consciousness |
|
dc.subject |
Double Consciousness |
|
dc.subject |
Du Bois |
|
dc.subject |
Du Bois |
|
dc.subject |
E |
|
dc.subject |
E |
|
dc.subject |
The Colour Line |
|
dc.subject |
The Colour Line |
|
dc.subject |
The Veil |
|
dc.subject |
The Veil |
|
dc.subject |
W |
|
dc.subject |
W |
|
dc.subject |
«The Comet» |
|
dc.subject |
«The Comet» |
| Download data |
-
file_download 347
-
search 1487
-
format_quote 0
