Several books of literary criticism, with focus on African-American fiction and metafiction

Here are several books that were recommended in a study of African-American metafiction.

"In From Behind the Veil, Robert Stepto shows that the history of African American literature has been a movement toward the invention of a self-authenticating voice. In Self-Discovery and Authority in Afro-American Narrative, Valerie Smith traces the development of voice from nineteenth-century autobiography, illustrating the resilience and adaptability of first-person narration. Gayl Jones [in Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American Literature] makes ‘freeing the voice’ the central trope of her study of the oral tradition in African American literature.” Madelyn Jablon. Black Metafiction: Self-Consciousness in African American Literature. University of Iowa Press, 1997. p. 112.

More books that Jablon mentions: .

Phillip Brian Harper, Framing the Margins: The Social Logic of Postmodern Culture Clarence Major, The Dark and Feeling: Black American Writers and Their Work Henry Louis Gates, Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars Gerald Graff, Literature Against Itself: Literary Ideas in Modern Society Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination

Here's Jablon's book: