Introduction: A Literary Analysis of All Aunt Hagar's Children
Edward P. Jones' compiles fourteen short stories in his fiction collection Lost in the City (1992). The stories' events range from the 1950s to the 1980s, actualizing the life experiences within the African American communities of Washington, D.C. The following essays explore the life experiences Jones captures in his stories while challenging and reinforcing normalized representations of the Black community.
The fourteen stories in the collection span from approximately 1901 ("In the Blink of God’s Eye") to 1988 ("Root Worker"), with most occurring in the 1950s and 60s. This information aids our understanding of the contexts in which the characters operate, but while Jones is skilled at using time to his advantage, concrete dates are often not the intended focus.
