Hybrid aesthetics: ambivalence, blues, and spirituals in African American novels

This dissertation, "Hybrid Aesthetics: Ambivalence, Blues, and Spirituals in African American Novels," examines the use of music in novels and its effect upon the lives of miscegenous and/or hybrid characters. The goals of my research are to theorize and understand hybrid music, interrogate psychic trauma, and explore the ambivalence of miscegenous and/or hybrid characters. This work explores the concepts of ambivalence, which is borne in hybrid and/or miscegenous characters and blues in four African American novels. The protagonists in the texts embody an ambivalence which is akin to Du Boisian double-consciousness which forces African Americans to view themselves through the eyes of others or as the world sees them. In other words, ambivalence is an intensified form of double consciousness because the protagonists are not just African and American, but they are part Anglo-American. I argue that the ambivalence of the protagonists hinders their development and move towards acceptance of their racial and sexual identity. Within in research, I demonstrate ways in which blues can be read as a metaphor for trauma and identity issues. I seek to provide a new approach to the use of music in novels. The foundational argument of my dissertation is that the ambivalence of miscegenous and/or hybrid characters is linked to the blues.