Ted Joans

Jimmy Fazzino (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Ed. by Christopher Hugh Gair, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Domains

Jazz

Dates

Born 4 Jul 1928
Died 25 Apr 2003
Activity 1959-2001

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States; France; Mali

Cultural Identities

African American

Activities

Primary

Painter
Poet

Resources

Ted Joans (1928-2003), US poet associated with the Beat Generation writers in 1950s Greenwich Village, was influenced in equal measure by the jazz rhythms of Langston Hughes and the avant-garde aesthetics of French surrealist André Breton. Considering himself a citizen of the world, Joans spent much of his life abroad, moving to Paris in the early 1960s before settling in Mali, where his work became increasingly invested in Pan-Africanist themes. Long admired by fans and fellow poets for his exuberant personality and dynamic performances, Joans has begun to receive greater critical attention in the years since his death. He is now regarded as a poetic innovator and an important link between African-American, surrealist, and beat …

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1645 words

Citation: Fazzino, Jimmy. "Ted Joans". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 December 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12978, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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