Putting the bloom back on: Figurations of the Diva

Putting the Bloom Back On: Figurations of the Diva traces the trajectory of the Diva figure and seeks to determine its usefulness as an ideological framework for the study of Black women's literature. The definition of who and what a Diva is has undergone many permutations and at present has grown to include Black women struggling to be both women and Black simultaneously. That is, Black women must become Divas in order to survive. The Diva performs the ultimate act of survival and this project examines that performance.;This dissertation begins by examining the methods employed by Black women writers during the Harlem Renaissance as they write Black women protagonists who flee cultural respectability in an attempt to create their own paths to survival. The discussion moves on to survey the landscape of the Black Women's literary renaissance arguing that these writers manipulate and re-inscribe Black women characters from the Harlem Renaissance in an attempt to unbind them. Questions of male-authored expressions of the Diva follow. Finally, the arguments come together to put forth the suggestion that the Diva is not a dismissive stereotype but an inductive tool with useful applications that further elucidate Black women characters within Black texts.