The Mimicking of Oral Traditions in African American Literature

Abstract

The authors Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Randall Kenan create a authentic listener experience through the use of literary features that mimic oral tradition in African American culture. The "authentic listener experience" is the purposeful drawing of the reader into the shoes of an African American, rural, twentieth-century, active participant listener regardless of where the reader stands. In essence, instead of reading the reader is invited to eavesdrop on various stories being told within these novels. This is done by using techniques such as the re-creation and verbal illustration of the porch scene in the African American novel, the use of songs, multiple versions of stories, rumors, the supernatural, and interruptions.