''The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism'' is a work of

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

and theory by the American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. first published in 1988. The book traces the folkloric origins of the African-American cultural practice of "signifying" and uses the concept of signifyin(g) to analyze the interplay between texts of prominent African-American writers, specifically Richard Wright,

Ralph Ellison Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel '' Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. Ellison wrote '' Shadow and Act'' (1964), a co ...

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

and

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his Satire, satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known wor ...

. Gates' title alludes to the song "Signifyin' Monkey" by

Oscar Brown Oscar Brown Jr. (October 10, 1926May 29, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, actor, and civil rights activist (Brown was African-American). Brown discovered The Jackson 5. Aside from his career, Brown ran unsuccessfully ...

, recorded in 1960.

Literary signifying

Signifyin(g) is closely related to double-talk and trickery of the type used by the Monkey of these narratives, but, as Gates himself admits, "It is difficult to arrive at a consensus of definitions of signifyin(g)." Bernard W. Bell defines it as an "elaborate, indirect form of goading or insult generally making use of profanity". Roger D. Abrahams writes that to signify is "to imply, goad, beg, boast by indirect verbal or gestural means". Signifyin(g) is a homonym with the concept of signification put forth by semiotician

Ferdinand de Saussure Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; ; 26 November 185722 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is wi ...

wherein the

signifier In semiotics, signified and signifier (French language, French: ''signifié'' and ''signifiant'') are the two main components of a Sign (semiotics), sign, where ''signified'' is what the sign represents or refers to, known as the "plane of con ...

(sound image) interacts with the signified (concept) to form one whole linguistic sign. Gates plays off this homonym and incorporates the linguistic concept of signifier and signified with the vernacular concept of signifyin(g). Gates defines two main types of literary Signifyin(g): oppositional (or motivated) and cooperative (or unmotivated). Unmotivated signifyin(g) takes the form of the repetition and alteration of another text, which "encode admiration and respect" and evidence "not the absence of a profound intention but the absence of a negative critique". Gates more thoroughly focuses on oppositional or motivated Signifyin(g) and how it "functions as a metaphor for formal revision, or intertextuality, within the Afro-American literary tradition". Authors reuse motifs from previous works but alter them and "signify" upon them so as to create their own meanings.

revises or "signifies" upon Richard Wright's work just as

goes on to signify upon both authors' work and so forth.

Critical reception

On publication in 1988, ''The Signifying Monkey'' received both widespread praise and notoriety. The prominent literary critic Houston A. Baker wrote that it was "a significant move forward in Afro-American literary study" and Andrew Delbanco wrote that it put Gates "at the forefront of the most significant reappraisal of African-American critical thought since the 1960s". It won an American Book Award in 1989. However, it was also closely scrutinized to the point of "being more talked about than read, more excoriated than understood".Lubiano, Wahneema. "Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and African-American Literary Discourse", ''Black Literature Criticism Supplement'', eds. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Jerry Moore. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 147. Complaints against it include that Gates's focus is exclusively Afrocentric, that he presupposes the signifying tradition and then fits his evidence to conform to the tradition, and that he is guilty of circular logic. Nonetheless, ''The Signifying Monkey'' has helped contribute to the reputation of Gates as being, along with Houston Baker, one of the two most important African-American literary theorists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.Mason, Theodore O. "African American Theory and Criticism: 2. 1977 to 1990". ''Johns Hopkins Guide To Literary Theory and Criticism''. (2005): 2. Johns Hopkins Guide To Literary Theory and Criticism. University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL. October 11, 2007.

References

External links

Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Signifying Monkey 1988 non-fiction books Books of literary criticism Books about race and ethnicity in the United States American Book Award–winning works American non-fiction books

Literary signifying

Critical reception

See also

References

External links