Abstract
Literary genres can be defined as categories of artistic composition, marked by distinctive styles, forms, or content. Trie distinctive style and form of African American oral traditions is one of the markers of African American literature. Toni Morrison in “Unspeakable Things Unspoken” said, “The most valuable point of entry into the question of cultural (or racial) distinction, the one most fraught, is its language—its unpoliced, seditious, confrontational, manipulative, inventive, disruptive, masked and unmasking language” (11). An analysis of the process of acquisition of the enslavers language by enslaved Africans explains the development of a written discourse based in African oral traditions.
“Way down in the jungle deep. . . .” is die traditional opening line of “The Signifyin Monkey” which is a time-honored toast from African American oral traditions.
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© 2009 Michelle Pagni Stewart and Yvonne Atkinson
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Atkinson, Y. (2009). “Way Down in the Jungle Deep, the Lion Stepped on the Monkey’s Feet”: An Introduction to African American Literature. In: Stewart, M.P., Atkinson, Y. (eds) Ethnic Literary Traditions in American Children’s Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101524_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230101524_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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