Although psychoanalytic theory is one of the most potent and influential tools in contemporary literary criticism, to date it has had very little impact on the study of African American literature. Claudia Tate demonstrates that psychoanalytic paradigms can produce rich and compelling readings of African American textuality. With clear and accessible summaries of key concepts in Freud, Lacan, and Klein, as well as deft reference to the work of contemporary psychoanalytic critics of literature, Tate explores African American desire, alienation, and subjectivity in neglected novels by Emma Kelley, W. E. B. Du Bois, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Nella Larsen. Her pioneering approach highlights African American textual realms within and beyond those inscribing racial oppression and modes of black resistance.