This work explores the written representation of African-American spoken-voice storytelling in African American writers from Charles Chesnutt in the late 19th century to Toni Cade Bambara and John Edgar Wideman of the mid and late 20th century. In examining black storytelling from the frame-tale perspective, the author shows the variety of ways that these writers negotiated the intricate, both intra and extra-textual, relations set up between writer, teller, tale, listener and reader, and provides essential insights into the fundamental role of the audience in the practice of African-American...