Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-260) and index.
Introduction: Scenes of reading, scenes of racialization: modern and contemporary black literature -- Unbinding the double audience: James Weldon Johnson -- Speakerly reading: Zora Neale Hurston -- Close reading "You": Ralph Ellison -- Erasing precious: Sapphire and Percival Everett -- Reading and being read: Jamaica Kincaid -- Epilogue: Toward a theory and pedagogy of responsible reading: Toni Morrison