Platitudes — Trey Ellis

"Trey Ellis''s uproariously funny debut novel Platitudes, first published in 1988, takes on conflicts within the African American literary community. Dewayne Wellington, a failing black experimental novelist, and Isshee Ayam, a radical feminist author, collaborate on Dewayne''s latest sexist comedy. Alternately telling the story about the coming of age of Earle and Dorothy-two black middle-class teenagers, sex-starved in New York City-the battling writers sneak ever, and dangerously, closer to reconciling their literary disputes.

This edition of Platitudes also includes ""The New Black Aesthetic,"" a groundbreaking essay by Ellis that appeared in the journal Callaloo."