A selective list of literary criticism for Paul Laurence Dunbar, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the MLA Guidelines for Web Sites
main page | African American writers | 20th-century literature | Harlem Renaissance
Alexander, Elizabeth. Dunbar lives! African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Blount, Marcellus. Paul Laurence Dunbar and the African American Elegy. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Bradley, David. Factoring out race: the cultural context of Paul Laurence Dunbar. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Braxton, Joanne M. Dunbar, the originator. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Braxton, Joanne M. (ed. and intro) Publisher's blurb for The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar (Univ. Press of Virginia)
Cohen, Michael. Paul Laurence Dunbar and the genres of dialect. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Gabbin, Joanne. Intimate intercessions in the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Howells, William Dean. William Dean Howells' Introduction to Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
Hughes, Jennifer A. The politics of incongruity in Paul Laurence Dunbar's The Fanatics. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Jarrett, Gene. "'We Must Write Like the White Men': Race, Realism, and Dunbar's Anomalous First Novel" In Novel: A Forum on Fiction, Summer 2004
Jarrett, Gene Andrew. Second-generation realist; or, Dunbar the naturalist. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Leuchtenmuller, Thomas. Paul Laurence Dunbar's overlooked play. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Lewis, David Levering. Commentary on Paul Laurence Dunbar, from The American Experience on PBS
Li, Xilao. "I know why the caged bird sings!": Dunbar in China. (Paul Laurence Dunbar's works studied in China). African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Martin, Herbert Woodward and Ronald Primeau (eds.) In His Own Voice: The Dramatic and Other Uncollected Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar (Ohio Univ. Press, 2002) A review in African American Review, Summer-Fall, 2003 by Dickson D. Bruce, Jr.
Maxwell, William J. Dunbar's Bohemian Gallery: Foreign Color and Fin-de-Siecle Modernism, African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Morgan, Thomas L. "The city as refuge: constructing urban blackness in Paul Laurence Dunbar's The Sport of the Gods and James Weldon Johnson's The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man" African American Review, Summer, 2004
Mullen, Harryette. "When he is least himself": Dunbar and double consciousness in African American poetry. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Nielsen, Aldon Lynn. "Purple haze": Dunbar's lyric legacy. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Nurhussein, Nadia. Paul Laurence Dunbar's performances and the epistolary dialect poem. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Robinson, Lillian S.; Robinson, Greg. Paul Laurence Dunbar: a credit to his race? African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Sapirstein, Ray. Picturing Dunbar's lyrics. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Scott-Childress, Reynolds J. Paul Laurence Dunbar and the project of cultural reconstruction. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Smethurst, James. Paul Laurence Dunbar and Turn-into-the-20th-Century African American Dualism. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Terry, Jennifer. "When Dey 'Listed Colored Soldiers": Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetic engagement with the Civil War, masculinity, and violence. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Waligora-Davis, Nicole A. Dunbar and the science of lynching. African American Review, 22-JUN-07
Washington, Margaret. "Paul Lawrence Dunbar-The People's Poet." Article on Paul Dunbar from the American Experience on PBS
The Modern American Poetry page reprints excerpts of reliable criticism and has the following sections on Paul Laurence Dunbar: Dunbar's Life and Career | Sterling Brown on Dunbar (1937) | On "Sympathy" | On "When Malindy Sings" | On "The Haunted Oak" | On "We Wear the Mask" | Examples of Dunbar's Illustrated Poems | W. D. Howell's Introduction to Lyrics of Lowly Life (1898) | Dunbar Book Covers | Additional Poems by Dunbar. From Cary Nelson and the Univ. of Illinois
An extended, introductory article on Paul Dunbar's career, includes list of his works and a secondary reading list, from the Poetry Foundation
A Paul Laurence Dunbar web site contains a biography, poems, and more. From the Univ. of Dayton
A brief introduction to Paul Dunbar from the American Academy of Poets
Program for the Paul Laurence Dunbar Centennial Celebration at Stanford Univ., March 10-11, 2006
"Celebrate Dunbar," a newsletter about events related to Paul Laurence Dunbar created by a collaboration of organizations
Brief discussion of Paul Laurence Dunbar as part of the Black Collegian's list of great African-Americans
Alice Moore Dunbar [Nelson] and Paul Laurence Dunbar Residence (photo and description) 1934 Fourth Street, NW, Washington D.C. From the African American Heritage Trail
Tourist web site for the Paul Laurence Dunbar's final home, in Ohio
Guide for teaching Paul Laurence Dunbar, contributing editors Elaine Hedges and Richard Yarborough, from the Heath Anthology
"Harlem Connections: Teaching Walter Dean Myers's Scorpions in Conjunction with Paul Laurence Dunbar's The Sport of the Gods," by Mark I. West. Published in the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English Review
"A Middle School Approach to Black Literature: An Introduction to Dunbar, Johnson, Hughes, and Angelou," by Ivory Erkerd. Published by Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
An introduction to Langston Hughes’ work that begins with Paul Dunbar Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
Suggestions for teachers in presenting Paul Laurence Dunbar to middle and high school students
An online exhibition from the Univ. of Delaware presents an autograph letter from Dunbar, the first letter to his future wife, Alice Ruth Moore, on May 23, 1895, in which he discusses literary issues
The Writings of Paul Laurence Dunbar An exhibit of rare and first edition books, at the Springfield (Mass.) Library site.
Digital versions of many of Paul Laurence Dunbar's works are available from the Paul Laurence Dunbar Digital Collection at Wright State Univ.
main page | African American writers | 20th-century literature | Harlem Renaissance
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